EARTH · RIVERS & FLOODS · UNITED STATES
Columbia River Discharge
The latest reading on the Columbia at The Dalles, USA — from the Copernicus GloFAS model, reporting river discharge (cubic metres per second). The largest river of the Pacific Northwest, a staircase of hydroelectric dams from the Rockies to the Oregon coast.The figure below is live, shown with the time it was taken, and framed as a measurement of flow — never a flood verdict.
What this reading means
River dischargeis the volume of water passing this point each second, in cubic metres per second (m³/s) — the standard way hydrologists size a river. GloFAS estimates it by routing rainfall and snowmelt down the whole basin. On the probe, the Columbia here read about 5,259 m³/s (high flow); the live figure above will differ with the season. It is a measure of how big the river is running — not a statement that it is flooding, which depends on the river’s own banks downstream.
About this reading
The Columbia’s discharge is estimated by the Copernicus Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS), served keyless via the Open-Meteo Flood API. The point used here is the river’s verified main-stem cell near The Dalles, USA— chosen so the reading tracks the trunk of the river rather than a side channel — and the model updates daily.
Nearby rivers
The closest rivers to the Columbia— compare how much water each is moving.