Gulf Coast Gauges

San Jacinto River near Sheldon water level

USGS gauge 08072050 · Harris County · San Jacinto River watershed · NWS gauge SHLT2

2.15 ft

gage height, Oct 20, 2026 at 10:15 AM CDT · 65 minutes ago

Below NWS minor flood stage
7.8 ft
NWS action stage
8.0 ft
NWS minor flood stage
10.0 ft
NWS moderate flood stage
13.0 ft
NWS major flood stage
15.0 ft
Highest since 2011 (USGS)
28.72 ft (August 29, 2017)
Usual range
1.06 to 3.02 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 11:20 AM CDT). Alerts are issued and expire at any time; the current list is at alerts.weather.gov.

Last 7 days

-0.6 1.2 3.0 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

-0.6 1.6 3.7 2026-09-11 – 2026-10-20 · bars are daily low to high

Annual peaks since 1992

In 16 complete water years of comparable USGS records (since 2011), the highest peak was 28.72 ft on August 29, 2017. So far in water year 2027 (since October 1) the highest reading is 3.74 ft on October 10, 2026, higher than the annual peak in 2 of 16 years.

1 9 16 23 31 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 major 15 ft moderate 13 ft minor 10 ft action 8 ft Water year 1992: 12.03 ft on March 5, 1992 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1993: 14.80 ft on June 22, 1993 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1994: 4.63 ft on February 24, 1994 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1995: 27.09 ft on October 19, 1994 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1996: 4.67 ft on December 18, 1995 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1997: 7.53 ft on March 13, 1997 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1998: 13.23 ft on January 9, 1998 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 1999: 19.87 ft on November 15, 1998 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2000: 5.94 ft on May 20, 2000 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2001: 16.96 ft on June 10, 2001 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2002: 6.63 ft on December 13, 2001 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2003: 15.03 ft on November 7, 2002 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2004: 11.74 ft on November 18, 2003 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2005: 7.70 ft on November 24, 2004 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2006: 5.60 ft on July 26, 2006 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2007: 10.12 ft on October 17, 2006 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2008: 14.51 ft on September 15, 2008 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2009: 10.59 ft on April 29, 2009 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2010: 6.38 ft on October 31, 2009 (different datum or site: not compared) Water year 2011: 3.58 ft on January 9, 2011 Water year 2012: 6.40 ft on July 15, 2012 Water year 2013: 3.33 ft on May 30, 2013 Water year 2014: 4.51 ft on October 31, 2013 Water year 2015: 11.05 ft on May 29, 2015 Water year 2016: 19.33 ft on May 30, 2016 Water year 2017: 28.72 ft on August 29, 2017 Water year 2018: 8.94 ft on April 1, 2018 Water year 2019: 19.37 ft on September 20, 2019 Water year 2020: 5.73 ft on September 22, 2020 Water year 2021: 8.33 ft on May 24, 2021 Water year 2022: 4.63 ft on January 9, 2022 Water year 2023: 8.42 ft on January 30, 2023 Water year 2024: 19.72 ft on May 4, 2024 Water year 2025: 4.31 ft on November 5, 2024 Water year 2026: 5.54 ft on June 17, 2026 Water year 2027 so far: 3.74 ft on October 10, 2026 2017 2024 2019

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 (19 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 29, 201728.72 ft18.7 ft
October 19, 199428.07 ft18.1 ft
June 15, 197321.10 ft11.1 ft
May 19, 198921.08 ft11.1 ft
November 15, 199820.85 ft10.9 ft
May 4, 202419.72 ft9.7 ft
September 20, 201919.37 ft9.4 ft
May 30, 201619.33 ft9.3 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, 20263.44 ftOct 1, 2026 at 8:15 AM CDT0.1 fthighest since water year 2026 (5.54 ft on June 17, 2026)

Harris County gauge nearby

San Jacinto River at US 90, less than 0.1 mi away, read 2.14 ft at Oct 20, 2026 at 11:00 AM CDT, 7.9 ft below its top of bank. Both gauges report water surface elevation.

Download the readings

san-jacinto-river-near-sheldon.csv (CSV): every reading stored for this gauge since September 11, 2026, 929 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.