USGS Water-Year Summary for Site 04216000

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	00060 Discharge(Mean) [From USACOE Buffalo]

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Water year 2023: 2022-10-01 to 2023-09-30

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USGS Water-Year Summary 2023

04216000 NIAGARA RIVER AT BUFFALO, NY

LOCATION - Lat 42°52'40", long 78°54'59" referenced to North American Datum of 1983, Erie County, NY, Hydrologic Unit 04120200, at head of Niagara River at Buffalo, and 34.3 mi upstream from mouth.

DRAINAGE AREA - 263,700 mi².

REVISIONS HISTORY - WSP 1912: 1862, 1936, 1955 (M). WDR NY-77-1: Drainage area. 1975.

SURFACE-WATER RECORDS

PERIOD OF RECORD - January 1860 to September 1960 (monthly discharges only published in WSP 1912), October 1960 to current year. Records of January 1926 to September 1960 daily discharges available in files of U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Geological Survey.

GAGE - Discharge determined from several powerplants at Niagara Falls and discharge over the falls. Discharge before 1926 determined from records of Corps of Engineers gages at Buffalo and Cleveland.

COOPERATION - Records of daily discharge provided by Detroit District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Canada Department of the Environment, not reviewed by the USGS.

REMARKS - Records do not include water diverted from Lake Michigan by Illinois and Michigan Canal during period of its operation prior to 1910 and by Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which began operation in 1900, and from Lake Erie by Welland and New York State Canals before 1918. Records include water diverted into Lake Superior from Hudson Bay drainage by the Long Lake project, which began operation in July 1939, and by the Ogoki project, which began operation in July 1943. Figures of monthly mean discharge for 1860 to 1960 and daily discharge for 1961 to 1965, published in WSP 1912, are the official records of the U.S. Lake Survey, and have been coordinated with and concurred by the counterpart Canadian agencies, as have been the extremes for period of record through December 1976 and records October 1977 to current year.

EXTREMES FOR PERIOD OF RECORD - Maximum daily discharge, 347,000 ft³/s, Dec. 2, 1985, result of high, storm-generated Lake Erie level; minimum daily, 90,000 ft³/s, Jan. 13, 1964, Aug. 29, 1984. Maximum monthly mean discharge, 285,000 ft³/s, June 2019; minimum monthly mean, 116,200 ft³/s, February 1936. Maximum and minimum instantaneous discharges not determined.