Gulf Coast Gauges

Mission River at Refugio water level

USGS gauge 08189500 · Refugio County · Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend · NWS gauge REFT2

1.41 ft

gage height, Oct 23, 2026 at 1:00 PM CDT · 65 minutes ago

Below NWS minor flood stage
21.6 ft
NWS action stage
20.0 ft
NWS minor flood stage
23.0 ft
NWS moderate flood stage
26.0 ft
NWS major flood stage
30.0 ft
Highest since 1940 (USGS)
38.25 ft (September 12, 1971)
Usual range
1.38 to 2.21 ft

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

No National Weather Service alert covering Refugio 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

1.4 1.8 2.2 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 0.38 ft NAVD88. It is not a water depth and not an elevation: add 0.38 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

1.4 2.5 3.5 2026-09-11 – 2026-10-23 · bars are daily low to high

Annual peaks since 1940

In 87 complete water years of comparable USGS records (since 1940), the highest peak was 38.25 ft on September 12, 1971. So far in water year 2027 (since October 1) the highest reading is 3.55 ft on October 5, 2026, higher than the annual peak in 2 of 87 years.

-0 10 20 31 41 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 major 30 ft moderate 26 ft minor 23 ft action 20 ft Water year 1940: 21.70 ft on June 30, 1940 Water year 1941: 28.40 ft on May 4, 1941 Water year 1942: 33.30 ft on July 7, 1942 Water year 1943: 22.40 ft on June 5, 1943 Water year 1944: 22.50 ft on March 19, 1944 Water year 1945: 21.26 ft on April 21, 1945 Water year 1946: 15.00 ft on June 11, 1946 Water year 1947: 29.55 ft on October 17, 1946 Water year 1948: 6.40 ft on July 1, 1948 Water year 1949: 21.80 ft on April 26, 1949 Water year 1950: 2.38 ft on October 29, 1949 Water year 1951: 22.35 ft on September 15, 1951 Water year 1952: 30.85 ft on September 12, 1952 Water year 1953: 16.96 ft on August 31, 1953 Water year 1954: 15.37 ft on October 24, 1953 Water year 1955: 6.80 ft on October 24, 1954 Water year 1956: 10.10 ft on March 22, 1956 Water year 1957: 21.80 ft on April 29, 1957 Water year 1958: 30.14 ft on February 23, 1958 Water year 1959: 16.10 ft on October 30, 1958 Water year 1960: 24.55 ft on June 27, 1960 Water year 1961: 26.60 ft on October 17, 1960 Water year 1962: 20.80 ft on June 3, 1962 Water year 1963: 9.25 ft on November 28, 1962 Water year 1964: 12.80 ft on July 20, 1964 Water year 1965: 20.23 ft on February 17, 1965 Water year 1966: 27.61 ft on May 7, 1966 Water year 1967: 36.50 ft on September 21, 1967 Water year 1968: 29.07 ft on May 12, 1968 Water year 1969: 21.81 ft on February 15, 1969 Water year 1970: 18.25 ft on June 2, 1970 Water year 1971: 38.25 ft on September 12, 1971 Water year 1972: 28.25 ft on May 13, 1972 Water year 1973: 28.67 ft on June 27, 1973 Water year 1974: 33.69 ft on October 12, 1973 Water year 1975: 12.53 ft on November 25, 1974 Water year 1976: 27.92 ft on July 12, 1976 Water year 1977: 22.28 ft on December 20, 1976 Water year 1978: 21.80 ft on June 4, 1978 Water year 1979: 25.62 ft on September 21, 1979 Water year 1980: 28.11 ft on August 12, 1980 Water year 1981: 26.53 ft on June 18, 1981 Water year 1982: 31.90 ft on November 1, 1981 Water year 1983: 27.90 ft on July 17, 1983 Water year 1984: 25.22 ft on October 22, 1983 Water year 1985: 24.16 ft on April 12, 1985 Water year 1986: 17.47 ft on October 1, 1985 Water year 1987: 22.96 ft on June 6, 1987 Water year 1988: 8.97 ft on September 17, 1988 Water year 1989: 3.99 ft on April 19, 1989 Water year 1990: 34.84 ft on July 17, 1990 Water year 1991: 17.10 ft on April 7, 1991 Water year 1992: 29.10 ft on December 23, 1991 Water year 1993: 25.86 ft on June 23, 1993 Water year 1994: 22.42 ft on March 17, 1994 Water year 1995: 26.51 ft on October 20, 1994 Water year 1996: 20.12 ft on June 27, 1996 Water year 1997: 28.18 ft on April 5, 1997 Water year 1998: 29.27 ft on October 14, 1997 Water year 1999: 31.00 ft on October 19, 1998 Water year 2000: 10.67 ft on March 15, 2000 Water year 2001: 34.08 ft on September 1, 2001 Water year 2002: 30.07 ft on November 17, 2001 Water year 2003: 25.56 ft on October 26, 2002 Water year 2004: 28.51 ft on May 15, 2004 Water year 2005: 28.21 ft on March 8, 2005 Water year 2006: 32.00 ft on September 19, 2006 Water year 2007: 29.26 ft on July 6, 2007 Water year 2008: 4.25 ft on August 21, 2008 Water year 2009: 3.19 ft on April 27, 2009 Water year 2010: 25.07 ft on September 21, 2010 Water year 2011: 15.96 ft on January 17, 2011 Water year 2012: 10.61 ft on April 16, 2012 Water year 2013: 21.45 ft on May 27, 2013 Water year 2014: 5.00 ft on June 27, 2014 Water year 2015: 24.36 ft on May 17, 2015 Water year 2016: 18.58 ft on March 11, 2016 Water year 2017: 25.42 ft on August 28, 2017 Water year 2018: 28.04 ft on June 22, 2018 Water year 2019: 24.49 ft on December 10, 2018 Water year 2020: 5.01 ft on May 16, 2020 Water year 2021: 31.23 ft on July 11, 2021 Water year 2022: 23.21 ft on October 16, 2021 Water year 2023: 15.41 ft on May 15, 2023 Water year 2024: 14.84 ft on July 29, 2024 Water year 2025: 18.15 ft on June 14, 2025 Water year 2026: 15.40 ft on June 21, 2026 Water year 2027 so far: 3.55 ft on October 5, 2026 1971 1990

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.

NWS historic crests

DateCrestAbove minor flood stage
September 12, 197138.25 ft15.2 ft
September 21, 196736.50 ft13.5 ft
July 1, 199034.85 ft11.9 ft
July 7, 194233.30 ft10.3 ft
August 1, 191432.30 ft9.3 ft
May 17, 193832.30 ft9.3 ft
July 11, 202131.24 ft8.2 ft
October 19, 199830.80 ft7.8 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.

Download the readings

mission-river-at-refugio.csv (CSV): every reading stored for this gauge since September 11, 2026, 4,034 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.