Gauge Description:

Note: The gauge refered to in this section is a virtual "regional" gauge. It is in a nearby watershed but the proximity of the gauge and the river characteristics are similar. These gauges work best in the spring or wide area rain events. Do not rely on this gauge for localized rain events such as summertime thunderstorm activity. Current minimum run level for this stretch is still to be verified (see table below). There is a hand painted gage on a rock at six mile bridge (Upper Mad river road). It is located on river left just under the upstream edge of the bridge.
 

Level      Painted gauge    USGS EB gauge (CFS)
Minimum         1.3           830
Scratchy       <1.6	       1200
Low            <1.8           1530
Low to medium  <2.1	       2060
Medium         <2.5           2870
Mdium high     <2.8           3600
High           >2.8
Too high......>above gage rock

Estimated chance (%) of finding the river runnable.
Month............% chance.................comment
 

January ............ 0%....Frozen. 
February.............0%....Frozen. 
March...............10%....usually Frozen. 
April...............35%....Best chance in late April
May ................25%....Best chance in early May. 
June.................5%
July.................3% 
August...............3%....Just a trickle
September............3%....Lowest water month 
October........�.....8%
November............20%....Fall rains, dormant trees 
December............20%....River starts freezing early in month. 

Be aware this is averaged out over several years. The % chance refers to the probability of finding the river running on any given day. For instance a 3% probability for September means on average you can only expect 1 day of water. One year there could be 2 days in September with water, other years none. Spring levels are usually higher than fall levels. The river rises and falls rapidly because of the small steep watershed. An occasional summer storm could bring the river up for a couple hours.

Building a "Virtual" gauge for the Mad
In the table below visual observations have been matched with actual USGS gauge readings from the East Branch USGS. This is an attempt to build a �Virtual� gauge for the Mad. Virtual gauges work best during spring runoff and widespread rain events but should not be relied upon for localized rain events such as thunderstorm activity. Once enough observations have been matched with the USGS gauge readings, we will determine which USGS gauge readings best matches the Mad river's runoff profile.