Gulf Coast Gauges

Big Creek near Needville water level

USGS gauge 08115000 · Fort Bend County · NWS gauge BCNT2

1.92 ft

gage height, Oct 23, 2026 at 1:15 PM CDT · 50 minutes ago

Below NWS minor flood stage
17.1 ft
NWS action stage
16.0 ft
NWS minor flood stage
19.0 ft
NWS moderate flood stage
21.0 ft
NWS major flood stage
23.0 ft
Highest since 1969 (USGS)
24.37 ft (November 11, 1985)
Usual range
1.79 to 2.44 ft

USGS marks recent readings as provisional: they can be revised after review.

No National Weather Service alert covering Fort Bend County was active when this page was generated (Oct 23, 2026 at 2:05 PM CDT). Alerts are issued and expire at any time; the current list is at alerts.weather.gov.

Last 7 days

1.8 2.1 2.4 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct 19 Oct 20 Oct 21 Oct 22 Oct 23

Hourly averages of USGS readings. The shaded band is this gauge's usual range: the middle 80% of its readings since September 11, 2026.

How to read this gauge

Gage height is the height of the water surface above this gauge's own zero point, which sits at 58.86 ft NAVD88. It is not a water depth and not an elevation: add 58.86 ft to get the water surface elevation.

The flood stages are the National Weather Service's, on the same scale as the gage height; they are the NWS's references for this location, not estimates made here.

Daily highs and lows since September 11, 2026

1.7 3.3 4.8 2026-09-11 – 2026-10-23 · bars are daily low to high

Annual peaks since 1947

In 58 complete water years of comparable USGS records (since 1969), the highest peak was 24.37 ft on November 11, 1985. So far in water year 2027 (since October 1) the highest reading is 4.80 ft on October 3, 2026.

3 9 15 20 26 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 major 23 ft moderate 21 ft minor 19 ft action 16 ft Water year 1947: 22.70 ft on May 25, 1947 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1948: 20.08 ft on December 13, 1947 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1949: 20.41 ft on April 22, 1949 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1950: 22.99 ft on October 8, 1949 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1952: 21.64 ft on April 23, 1952 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1953: 21.53 ft on August 30, 1953 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1954: 20.76 ft on December 20, 1953 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1955: 20.28 ft on February 6, 1955 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1956: 14.98 ft on January 22, 1956 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1957: 21.78 ft on March 17, 1957 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1958: 22.31 ft on October 15, 1957 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1959: 20.92 ft on April 11, 1959 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1960: 23.81 ft on June 26, 1960 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1961: 22.86 ft on June 19, 1961 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1962: 18.97 ft on November 13, 1961 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1963: 20.28 ft on January 17, 1963 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1964: 19.80 ft on March 2, 1964 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1965: 20.65 ft on February 16, 1965 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1966: 18.94 ft on April 14, 1966 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1967: 17.88 ft on August 25, 1967 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1968: 20.71 ft on June 23, 1968 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1969: 21.16 ft on February 21, 1969 Water year 1970: 15.88 ft on February 8, 1970 Water year 1971: 22.06 ft on October 12, 1970 Water year 1972: 20.36 ft on May 12, 1972 Water year 1973: 22.35 ft on June 13, 1973 Water year 1974: 21.65 ft on October 12, 1973 Water year 1975: 22.00 ft on May 30, 1975 Water year 1976: 19.59 ft on June 1, 1976 Water year 1977: 19.91 ft on April 20, 1977 Water year 1978: 19.72 ft on January 16, 1978 Water year 1979: 23.13 ft on September 20, 1979 Water year 1980: 19.11 ft on January 22, 1980 Water year 1981: 22.95 ft on August 31, 1981 Water year 1982: 21.96 ft on May 13, 1982 Water year 1983: 22.20 ft on August 18, 1983 Water year 1984: 18.50 ft on November 6, 1983 Water year 1985: 21.54 ft on October 25, 1984 Water year 1986: 24.37 ft on November 11, 1985 Water year 1987: 21.31 ft on December 15, 1986 Water year 1988: 19.10 ft on December 21, 1987 Water year 1989: 23.15 ft on August 2, 1989 Water year 1990: 21.59 ft on February 21, 1990 Water year 1991: 20.46 ft on April 5, 1991 Water year 1992: 22.05 ft on April 18, 1992 Water year 1993: 20.52 ft on June 20, 1993 Water year 1994: 21.26 ft on May 16, 1994 Water year 1995: 24.23 ft on October 18, 1994 Water year 1996: 21.93 ft on December 17, 1995 Water year 1997: 22.46 ft on April 4, 1997 Water year 1998: 21.33 ft on September 11, 1998 Water year 1999: 21.87 ft on November 13, 1998 Water year 2000: 17.05 ft on April 12, 2000 Water year 2001: 21.55 ft on August 31, 2001 Water year 2002: 20.30 ft on August 15, 2002 Water year 2003: 21.30 ft on October 29, 2002 Water year 2004: 21.93 ft on November 18, 2003 Water year 2005: 21.78 ft on November 23, 2004 Water year 2006: 17.31 ft on July 26, 2006 Water year 2007: 22.60 ft on October 16, 2006 Water year 2008: 19.33 ft on October 16, 2007 Water year 2009: 22.34 ft on April 18, 2009 Water year 2010: 21.14 ft on July 2, 2010 Water year 2011: 15.84 ft on December 29, 2010 Water year 2012: 20.41 ft on February 18, 2012 Water year 2013: 14.86 ft on January 9, 2013 Water year 2014: 17.14 ft on October 31, 2013 Water year 2015: 21.35 ft on May 26, 2015 Water year 2016: 19.19 ft on April 18, 2016 Water year 2017: 21.71 ft on August 27, 2017 Water year 2018: 15.03 ft on February 10, 2018 Water year 2019: 22.41 ft on May 8, 2019 Water year 2020: 16.61 ft on September 22, 2020 Water year 2021: 17.93 ft on May 1, 2021 Water year 2022: 13.46 ft on January 9, 2022 Water year 2023: 14.97 ft on November 24, 2022 Water year 2024: 17.30 ft on July 8, 2024 Water year 2025: 13.43 ft on June 12, 2025 Water year 2026: 14.39 ft on May 23, 2026 Water year 2027 so far: 4.80 ft on October 3, 2026 1986 1995

Each dot is the highest gage height of a water year (October to September), from the USGS annual peak record, with recent years USGS has not published yet taken from its 15-minute readings and this site's own; hover a dot for its date. Dashed lines are NWS flood stages. Grey hollow dots (21 years) were measured on a different datum or at a different site, or before the gauge's datum last changed, so they are shown but not compared.

NWS historic crests

DateCrestAbove minor flood stage
November 11, 198524.37 ft5.4 ft
October 18, 199424.23 ft5.2 ft
August 2, 198923.15 ft4.1 ft
September 20, 197923.13 ft4.1 ft
August 31, 198122.95 ft3.9 ft
October 16, 200622.60 ft3.6 ft
April 4, 199722.46 ft3.5 ft
May 8, 201922.41 ft3.4 ft

The highest crests the National Weather Service lists for this gauge, as published. They can differ from the USGS annual peaks above: USGS records the year's highest gage height, which is not always the crest the NWS lists for the same flood.

In past storms

StormPeakPeak timeRiseCompared with its record
October 1–2, 20264.80 ftOct 3, 2026 at 2:30 AM CDT3.0 fthighest since water year 2026 (14.39 ft on May 23, 2026)

Download the readings

big-creek-near-needville.csv (CSV): every reading stored for this gauge since September 11, 2026, 4,036 rows, with time in UTC and Central, gage height in feet, and the USGS approval status.

Source. Gage height from the U.S. Geological Survey; flood stages and historic crests from the NWS National Water Prediction Service. This site is not affiliated with either agency.