Gulf Coast Gauges

Brays Bayou at Houston water level

USGS gauge 08075000 · Harris County · Brays Bayou watershed · NWS gauge HBMT2

16.56 ft

gage height, Oct 20, 2026 at 12:45 PM CDT · 50 minutes ago

Below NWS minor flood stage
24.4 ft
NWS action stage
38.0 ft
NWS minor flood stage
41.0 ft
NWS moderate flood stage
42.0 ft
NWS major flood stage
43.0 ft
Highest since 2008 (USGS)
45.67 ft (August 27, 2017)
Usual range
16.69 to 17.20 ft

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

No National Weather Service alert covering Harris County was active when this page was generated (Oct 20, 2026 at 1:35 PM CDT). Alerts are issued and expire at any time; the current list is at alerts.weather.gov.

Last 7 days

16.4 16.8 17.2 Oct 14 Oct 15 Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 18 Oct 19 Oct 20

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 the gauge's zero point. This gauge's zero is set at 0 ft NAVD88, so its gage height is the water surface elevation above that datum. It is not a water depth.

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

16.4 20.0 23.6 2026-09-11 – 2026-10-20 · bars are daily low to high

Annual peaks since 1929

In 19 complete water years of comparable USGS records (since 2008), the highest peak was 45.67 ft on August 27, 2017. So far in water year 2027 (since October 1) the highest reading is 22.86 ft on October 2, 2026.

20 29 38 48 57 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 major 43 ft moderate 42 ft minor 41 ft action 38 ft Water year 1929: 50.40 ft on May 31, 1929 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1936: 47.00 ft on May 25, 1936 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1937: 34.88 ft on December 10, 1936 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1938: 43.27 ft on May 17, 1938 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1939: 48.02 ft on July 12, 1939 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1940: 36.73 ft on February 17, 1940 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1941: 47.62 ft on September 24, 1941 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1942: 44.58 ft on October 31, 1941 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1943: 48.22 ft on July 29, 1943 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1944: 50.60 ft on November 2, 1943 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1945: 51.70 ft on August 28, 1945 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1946: 48.24 ft on September 27, 1946 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1947: 46.25 ft on November 5, 1946 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1948: 38.44 ft on December 13, 1947 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1949: 42.60 ft on February 26, 1949 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1950: 51.49 ft on October 8, 1949 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1951: 34.58 ft on March 28, 1951 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1952: 38.79 ft on February 1, 1952 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1953: 42.72 ft on May 18, 1953 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1954: 43.20 ft on November 18, 1953 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1955: 42.38 ft on February 4, 1955 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1956: 36.38 ft on May 2, 1956 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1957: 43.65 ft on March 17, 1957 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1958: 47.48 ft on October 15, 1957 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1959: 43.80 ft on April 9, 1959 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1960: 49.72 ft on June 26, 1960 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1961: 41.62 ft on September 11, 1961 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1962: 43.00 ft on November 13, 1961 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1963: 40.30 ft on January 17, 1963 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1964: 35.02 ft on March 19, 1964 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1965: 33.46 ft on December 10, 1964 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1966: 40.12 ft on April 14, 1966 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1967: 34.11 ft on September 21, 1967 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1968: 40.48 ft on June 23, 1968 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1969: 38.25 ft on February 21, 1969 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1970: 41.40 ft on May 21, 1970 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1971: 43.54 ft on October 11, 1970 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1972: 40.56 ft on May 12, 1972 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1973: 49.90 ft on June 13, 1973 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1974: 37.96 ft on January 19, 1974 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1975: 45.34 ft on June 9, 1975 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1976: 52.13 ft on June 15, 1976 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1977: 38.38 ft on April 20, 1977 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1978: 35.90 ft on June 7, 1978 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1979: 50.36 ft on April 19, 1979 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1980: 40.66 ft on January 22, 1980 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1981: 50.32 ft on August 31, 1981 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1982: 45.57 ft on May 13, 1982 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1983: 52.13 ft on September 19, 1983 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1984: 38.31 ft on November 30, 1983 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1985: 42.22 ft on March 20, 1985 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1986: 45.26 ft on November 11, 1985 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1987: 48.35 ft on June 12, 1987 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1988: 37.98 ft on March 2, 1988 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1989: 47.81 ft on August 1, 1989 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1990: 39.94 ft on April 26, 1990 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1991: 46.74 ft on January 15, 1991 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1992: 48.74 ft on March 4, 1992 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1993: 44.21 ft on June 19, 1993 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1994: 44.65 ft on November 16, 1993 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1995: 51.02 ft on October 18, 1994 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1996: 45.40 ft on September 19, 1996 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1997: 48.96 ft on March 12, 1997 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1998: 50.21 ft on September 11, 1998 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1999: 44.67 ft on November 14, 1998 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2000: 37.34 ft on April 12, 2000 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2001: 54.13 ft on June 9, 2001 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2002: 45.52 ft on August 15, 2002 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2003: 41.09 ft on October 28, 2002 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2004: 50.25 ft on November 17, 2003 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2005: 41.83 ft on May 8, 2005 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2006: 41.82 ft on December 14, 2005 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2007: 36.23 ft on October 16, 2006 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2008: 41.02 ft on September 13, 2008 Water year 2009: 36.95 ft on April 28, 2009 Water year 2010: 37.20 ft on July 2, 2010 Water year 2011: 34.15 ft on December 29, 2010 Water year 2012: 40.93 ft on January 9, 2012 Water year 2013: 38.78 ft on April 27, 2013 Water year 2014: 34.86 ft on September 19, 2014 Water year 2015: 42.83 ft on May 26, 2015 Water year 2016: 41.98 ft on April 18, 2016 Water year 2017: 45.67 ft on August 27, 2017 Water year 2018: 37.49 ft on July 4, 2018 Water year 2019: 39.18 ft on September 19, 2019 Water year 2020: 39.72 ft on September 22, 2020 Water year 2021: 32.19 ft on May 24, 2021 Water year 2022: 31.77 ft on October 2, 2021 Water year 2023: 31.85 ft on January 24, 2023 Water year 2024: 41.73 ft on July 8, 2024 Water year 2025: 27.83 ft on August 31, 2025 Water year 2026: 31.97 ft on July 23, 2026 Water year 2027 so far: 22.86 ft on October 2, 2026 2017

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 (73 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
August 27, 201745.67 ft4.7 ft
May 26, 201542.83 ft1.8 ft
April 18, 201641.98 ft1.0 ft
August 28, 201741.75 ft0.8 ft
September 13, 200841.02 ft0.0 ft
January 9, 201240.93 ft—
April 27, 201338.78 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, 202622.86 ftOct 2, 2026 at 4:45 AM CDT6.0 fthighest since water year 2026 (31.97 ft on July 23, 2026)

Harris County gauge nearby

Brays Bayou at South Main Street, less than 0.1 mi away, read 16.51 ft at Oct 20, 2026 at 11:29 AM CDT, 24.5 ft below its top of bank. Both gauges report water surface elevation.

Download the readings

brays-bayou-at-houston.csv (CSV): every reading stored for this gauge since September 11, 2026, 931 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.