South Fork Root River near Houston, MN

Houston County, Minnesota · USGS 05385500

Latest observation

What this gauge represents: This gauge measures conditions on South Fork Root River at its USGS monitoring location in Houston County; conditions elsewhere on the waterway may differ.

How to read these numbers
Streamflow (ft³/s or CFS)

How much water moves past the gauge each second. Higher numbers mean more water is moving downstream.

Gauge height (ft)

The water-surface height at this gauge. It is useful for tracking rises, falls and flood thresholds, but it is not the river's total depth.

24-hour change

How much the latest reading has risen or fallen compared with roughly 24 hours earlier.

Historical median

The typical streamflow for this date based on USGS historical statistics. A multiple such as 3× means current flow is about three times the historical median.

River Pulse

Get Water Data's plain-language summary of current flow, historical context and recent direction.

NOAA flood stage

Official action and flood thresholds where available. These levels are specific to each gauge location.

Gauge height and flood stage are station-specific. A 12-foot reading at one gauge should not be directly compared with 12 feet at another.

RIVER PULSE

Above historical median · Falling

Flow vs typicalHigh

Streamflow is currently 237 ft³/s, 85% above the historical median for this date. Flow has fallen 8 CFS over the past 24 hours.

USGS-reported historical daily median for 09-27: 128 ft³/s · Based on USGS day-of-year statistics

How trends & context are calculated →
NOAA flood-stage status:Below action stage
Current 2.3 ft · 6.7 ft below action stage · Flood stage 10 ft
RECENT STREAMFLOW

Streamflow trend

Daily mean streamflow · Aug 28–Sep 26 · dates shown in UTC · 30 observations

Look at the data (30 rows)
Displayed USGS daily mean streamflow observations
Date (UTC)Daily mean
Aug 28, 2026, 12:00 AM188 CFS
Aug 29, 2026, 12:00 AM191 CFS
Aug 30, 2026, 12:00 AM193 CFS
Aug 31, 2026, 12:00 AM192 CFS
Sep 1, 2026, 12:00 AM190 CFS
Sep 2, 2026, 12:00 AM191 CFS
Sep 3, 2026, 12:00 AM192 CFS
Sep 4, 2026, 12:00 AM195 CFS
Sep 5, 2026, 12:00 AM195 CFS
Sep 6, 2026, 12:00 AM192 CFS
Sep 7, 2026, 12:00 AM191 CFS
Sep 8, 2026, 12:00 AM197 CFS
Sep 9, 2026, 12:00 AM202 CFS
Sep 10, 2026, 12:00 AM194 CFS
Sep 11, 2026, 12:00 AM191 CFS
Sep 12, 2026, 12:00 AM192 CFS
Sep 13, 2026, 12:00 AM190 CFS
Sep 14, 2026, 12:00 AM196 CFS
Sep 15, 2026, 12:00 AM242 CFS
Sep 16, 2026, 12:00 AM215 CFS
Sep 17, 2026, 12:00 AM198 CFS
Sep 18, 2026, 12:00 AM250 CFS
Sep 19, 2026, 12:00 AM2,630 CFS
Sep 20, 2026, 12:00 AM547 CFS
Sep 21, 2026, 12:00 AM355 CFS
Sep 22, 2026, 12:00 AM308 CFS
Sep 23, 2026, 12:00 AM278 CFS
Sep 24, 2026, 12:00 AM261 CFS
Sep 25, 2026, 12:00 AM251 CFS
Sep 26, 2026, 12:00 AM241 CFS
STATION DETAILS

About this gauge

Site type: Stream
County: Houston County
Drainage area: 275 mi²
Current measurements: 2
DATA SOURCE

Official USGS station

Get Water Data organizes provisional public monitoring data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

View USGS station →
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LIVE RIVER CONDITIONS
South Fork Root River near Houston, MNUSGS 05385500
STREAMFLOW237 ft³/s
GAUGE HEIGHT2.31 ft