Little River level at Townsend
Tennessee · Tubing & floating
Measured at USGS 03497300 — LITTLE RIVER ABOVE TOWNSEND, TN
Reading taken · as of 18 min ago
Running thin — a slow, scrapey float
At 73 CFS, this gauge is running 86% of normal for mid-September — close to the 85 CFS median USGS has recorded for this date across 62 years of record (1964–2026).
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Flow history at Townsend
Daily values from USGS 03497300, updated every 15 to 60 minutes. Provisional.
About Little River at Townsend
This is the gauge above Townsend, on the Little River as it comes out of the Great Smoky Mountains, and it is the reference for the Y — the confluence swimming and tubing area that draws a great deal of the park's summer traffic. The whole catchment above it is national park, which means no development, no withdrawals and no dam.
It also means the river is very flashy. The Smokies are one of the wettest places in the eastern United States and the terrain is steep, so a heavy storm on the crest puts this up hard and fast, then lets it fall away over a day or two. Tubing here is a low-water activity; the interesting question is usually whether there is enough water rather than too much.
Little River at Townsend — common questions
5 questions
Is the water at the Y in Townsend dam-controlled?
Not at all. Everything above this gauge is inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with no reservoir, no release schedule and no withdrawal. What the mountains get is what arrives, which is why this gauge tracks rainfall almost directly and why summer levels drop steadily through a dry spell.
Do I want a high or a low reading for tubing?
Low to moderate. The Little River at Townsend is a shallow, rocky, cold mountain river and the mass-market tubing works at modest flows; a big storm reading is a hazard rather than an improvement. The seasonal comparison above tells you where today sits against a normal summer day here.
Does rain upstream change Little River at Townsend quickly?
Yes. It is free-flowing, so rain upstream moves it directly. Several feet in a few hours is normal after a heavy storm.
Is Little River at Townsend high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for mid-September here is 85 CFS, from 62 years of record (1964–2026). Today is 86% of it. The comparison is what makes the raw number mean anything: the same reading is a drought on one river and a flood on another.
How often does this reading update?
USGS transmits from gauge 03497300 every 15 to 60 minutes. This page refreshes from USGS when you open it, and the reading is provisional until USGS reviews it. The timestamp is in the gauge's local time.