Cowlitz River at Packwood, WA
Southwest Washington · USGS gauge 14226500 · Updated Oct 24, 3:19 AM PDT · USGS data, provisional
Reading time: Oct 24, 3:00 AM PDT · Provisional data
Flow is in a typical range for the date. Rivers are generally easiest to fish and float when they are near their normal flow, but this status says nothing about water clarity, hatches, hazards such as wood in the river, or dam releases.
- Vs. normal for this date
- 10th percentile
- Typical range (25th–75th)
- 369–1,120 cfs
- Median for this date
- 578 cfs
- 7-day low / high
- 242 / 323 cfs
Plain-language explanation
Cowlitz River at Packwood is flowing at 272 cubic feet per second (cfs) as of Oct 24, 3:00 AM PDT. That is on the low side for this time of year: lower than about 90% of the daily flows this gauge has recorded for this date (give or take 7 days) over 105 years of record (1911–2026).
The middle half of those historical flows runs from 369 to 1,120 cfs, with a median of 578 cfs; the lowest 10% of days are at or below 270 cfs and the highest 10% at or above 2,000 cfs.
Over the last 24 hours the flow has been steady (+0.0%). In the last 7 days it ranged from 242 to 323 cfs.
Why this status: Flow is within the range this gauge normally sees at this time of year (or the deviation is too small in absolute terms to matter).
7-day trend
Hourly flow in cfs, Pacific time. The shaded band is the typical range (25th–75th percentile) for this date, shown when it falls within the chart.
| Day (Pacific) | Mean cfs | Percentile | Status that day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Oct 18 | 270 | 12th | Fishable/Floatable |
| Mon Oct 19 | 267 | 10th | Fishable/Floatable |
| Tue Oct 20 | 265 | 9th | Too low |
| Wed Oct 21 | 270 | 11th | Fishable/Floatable |
| Thu Oct 22 | 272 | 11th | Fishable/Floatable |
| Fri Oct 23 | 263 | 9th | Too low |
| Sat Oct 24 (so far) | 270 | 10th | Fishable/Floatable |
Seasonal context
Shaded band: 10th–90th percentile of daily flows through the year; dashed line: median. Log scale. Dot: today's flow. Based on 105 years of USGS daily data (1911–2026).
About this gauge
- USGS site
- USGS-14226500
- USGS name
- Cowlitz River At Packwood, Wa
- Drainage area
- 287 sq mi
- Location
- 46.6129, -121.6792
- Record in this analysis
- 1911–2026
Typical uses
Notes: Upper Cowlitz, upstream of the large Cowlitz dams. (Hand-written general note, not from USGS data.)
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