Total streamflow across the
Arkansas River
was last observed at
34,858
cfs, and is expected to yield approximately
69,140
acre-ft of water today; about 38%
of normal.
River levels are low and may signify a drought.
Average streamflow for this time of year is
92,549 cfs,
with recent peaks last observed
on
2019-05-28 when daily discharge volume was observed at
1,992,683 cfs.
Maximum discharge along the river is currently at the
Arkansas River At Ft. Smith
reporting a streamflow rate of 16,900 cfs.
However, the streamgauge with the highest stage along the river is the
Arkansas River Near Muskogee
with a gauge stage of 18.03 ft.
This river is monitored from 39 different streamgauging stations along the Arkansas River, the highest being situated at an altitude of 9,720 ft, the
Arkansas River Near Leadville.
Last Updated | 2025-03-29 |
Discharge Volume | 69,140 ACRE-FT |
Streamflow |
34,857.8 cfs
-13538.8 cfs (-27.97%) |
Percent of Normal | 37.66% |
Maximum |
1,992,683.0 cfs
2019-05-28 |
Seasonal Avg | 92,549 cfs |
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas River Valley, where the headwaters derive from the snowpack in the Sawatch and Mosquito mountain ranges. It then flows east into the Midwest via Kansas, and finally into the South through Oklahoma and Arkansas.
At 1,469 miles (2,364 km), it is the sixth-longest river in the United States, the second-longest tributary in the Mississippi–Missouri system, and the 45th longest river in the world. Its origin is in the Rocky Mountains in Lake County, Colorado, near Leadville. In 1859, placer gold discovered in the Leadville area brought thousands seeking to strike it rich, but the easily recovered placer gold was quickly exhausted. The Arkansas River's mouth is at Napoleon, Arkansas, and its drainage basin covers nearly 170,000 square miles (440,000 km2). Its volume is much smaller than the Missouri and Ohio Rivers, with a mean discharge of about 40,000 cubic feet per second (1,100 m3/s).
The Arkansas from its headwaters to the 100th meridian west formed part of the U.S.–Mexico border from the Adams–Onís Treaty (in force 1821) until the Texas Annexation or Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.