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* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zones 214, 216, 241, 246 and 247. * TIMING...From 10 AM this morning to 7 PM MDT this evening. * WINDS...West 15 to 30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. * RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 9 percent. * IMPACTS...Conditions will be favorable for rapid fire spread. Avoid outdoor burning and any activity that may produce a spark and start a wildfire.
Total streamflow across the
Ohio River
was last observed at
981,900
cfs, and is expected to yield approximately
1,947,575
acre-ft of water today; about 171%
of normal.
River levels are high.
Average streamflow for this time of year is
573,625 cfs,
with recent peaks last observed
on
2021-08-25 when daily discharge volume was observed at
29,203,700 cfs.
Maximum discharge along the river is currently at the
Ohio River At Cannelton Dam At Cannelton
reporting a streamflow rate of 422,000 cfs.
However, the streamgauge with the highest stage along the river is the
Ohio River At Old Shawneetown
with a gauge stage of 51.44 ft.
This river is monitored from 7 different streamgauging stations along the Ohio River, the highest being situated at an altitude of 690 ft, the
Ohio River At Sewickley.
| Last Updated | 2025-04-16 |
| Discharge Volume | 1,947,575 ACRE-FT |
| Streamflow |
981,900.0 cfs
-107000.0 cfs (-9.83%) |
| Percent of Normal | 171.17% |
| Maximum |
29,203,700.0 cfs
2021-08-25 |
| Seasonal Avg | 573,625 cfs |
The Ohio River is a 981-mile (1,579 km) long river in the midwestern United States that flows southwesterly from western Pennsylvania south of Lake Erie to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. It is the second largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River that divides the eastern from western United States. The river flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 15 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people.The lower Ohio River just below Louisville is obstructed by rapids known as the Falls of the Ohio where the water level falls 26ft. in 2 miles and is impassible for navigation. The McAlpine Locks and Dam, a shipping canal bypassing the rapids, now allows commercial navigation from the Forks of the Ohio at Pittsburgh to the Port of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi on the Gulf of Mexico.
The name "Ohio" comes from the Seneca, Ohi:yo', lit. "Good River". European discovery of the Ohio River may be attributed to English explorers from Virginia in the latter half of the 17th century. In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated: "The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted." In the late 18th century, the river was the southern boundary of the Northwest Territory. It became a primary transportation route for pioneers during the westward expansion of the early U.S.
The river is sometimes considered as the western extension of the Mason–Dixon Line that divided Pennsylvania from Maryland, and thus part of the border between free and slave territory, and between the Northern and Southern United States or Upper South. Where the river was narrow, it was the way to freedom for thousands of slaves escaping to the North, many helped by free blacks and whites of the Underground Railroad resistance movement.
The Ohio River is a climatic transition area, as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical and humid continental climate areas. It is inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates. In winter, it regularly freezes over at Pittsburgh but rarely farther south toward Cincinnati and Louisville. At Paducah, Kentucky, in the south, near the Ohio's confluence with the Mississippi, it is ice-free year-round.
