Streamflow
Above normalColorado River near Cisco streamflow
Daily mean discharge, Colorado (Upper) basin, Utah
Data through Oct 15, 2026 · source last checked Oct 17, 2026 · page revised Oct 16, 2026
Cite
- Discharge
About this data
- Source
- US Geological Survey (USGS)
- Series
- Daily mean streamflow (discharge)
- Geography
- Colorado River near Cisco
- Unit
- cfs
- Calculation
- Daily mean
- Last observation
- Oct 15, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 5,270 cfs, 50% above the 5-yr median.
The Colorado River near Cisco rose to 5,270 cfs, up 171.6% week over week. Month over month the flow climbed 237.8%, from 1,560 cfs. The gauge runs 50% above its 5-year median, though it is down 9.0% from a year ago.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 5,270 cfs | 1,940 cfs | +171.6% |
| Month over month | 5,270 cfs | 1,560 cfs | +237.8% |
| Year over year | 5,270 cfs | 5,790 cfs | -9.0% |
| vs 5-yr median | 5,270 cfs | 3,520 cfs | +49.7% |
| Reading | Discharge |
|---|---|
| Lowest on record for this week | 2,800 cfs |
| Median for this week | 3,520 cfs |
| Highest on record for this week | 6,510 cfs |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Discharge at Colorado River near Cisco rose to 3,250 cfs, up 56.3% on the week and 137.2% on the month. The flow remains 42.8% below the year-ago level and runs 5% below the 5-year median.
Week of Oct 7, 2026
Flow at Cisco fell to 2,000 cfs, down 22.8% on the week. The river gained 14.3% in the month to date but runs 32.4% below its level a year ago. It sits 37% below the 5-year median.
Week of Sep 30, 2026
Discharge at Cisco stands at 2,590 cfs, 27% below the 5-year median for late September. Flow rose 16.1% over the month but is down 17.5% compared to a year ago.
Week of Sep 23, 2026
Discharge at Colorado River near Cisco fell to 2,640 cfs, down 25% on the week. Flow climbed 70.3% month over month. The reading sits 30% below the 5-year median.
About Colorado River near Cisco
The Colorado River near Cisco ran 5,270 cfs on Oct 15, 2026: 5,270 cubic feet of water passing the gauge every second (what cfs means), or about 10,453 acre-feet a day. That is 50% above the 5-year median of 3,520 cfs for the date. A month earlier it ran 1,560 cfs on Sep 15, 2026, so the river has risen 238% since then. Its flow includes the Gunnison, read upstream at the Gunnison River below Gunnison Tunnel gauge. Below Cisco the Colorado meets the Green River in Canyonlands National Park and flows on into Lake Powell.
USGS gage 09180500 measures the Colorado River near Cisco, Utah, the last mainstem station above the Green River confluence and the standard index of Upper Colorado runoff. Everything above it drains roughly 24,000 square miles of western Colorado and eastern Utah: the headwaters above Grand Junction, the Gunnison, the Dolores, and the transmountain diversions that move Colorado River water east across the Continental Divide to the Front Range before it ever reaches this gage.
Its year is a snowmelt year. Flow is low and stable through the winter, rises steeply in May, peaks in late May or June, and tapers through a long late-summer recession. The timing of that peak matters as much as its height: an early peak usually means the snowpack melted out fast and leaves less water for August. A low season here is the leading edge of a bad year for Lake Powell, because this is the water that fills it.