Hurunui › Hurunui Esk Head

Hurunui River South Branch at Esk Head

17.3m³/s

Sat, 17 Oct, 11:00 pm · 31 min ago

Steady

ClearingClearing: 2.9 d since the last peak, still 1.4× the 30-day median

3 h change: -0.68 m³/s
Steady for: 8 h
7-day peak: 106
Thu, 15 Oct, 2:40 am
30-day median: 12.1
30-day range: 8.17 – 106
Mean annual flood: 226 m³/s
1-in-10-year flood: 360 m³/s
Highest gauged: 216 m³/s
Stage: 0.64 m
Recession: halves in 7 h
median of 4 past rises, toward 8.28

Flow

m³/s · New Zealand time

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Recent rises

detected from hourly means

Peak	From	To	Rise	Settled
Thu, 15 Oct, 1:00 am	8.28	99.2	12.0×	11 h
Sun, 27 Sept, 4:00 pm	11.3	21.5	1.9×	15 h
Sun, 20 Sept, 5:00 am	15.5	27.1	1.7×	12 h
Thu, 17 Sept, 12:00 pm	14.5	28.5	2.0×	17 h

Along the Hurunui

JBNZ river guide

Hurunui River, sections that cite this gauge are marked

Sections

Hurunui River

SH70 bridge to the sea

Shingle, willows; fast and mean above SH70 · 16 km · 11.9 m/km

Launch Railway bridge at the mouth

No current information, history not known. Please give information to JBNZ if you boat it.

This row sits under the Hurunui in the sheet, but SH70 does not cross the Hurunui, so it may describe another river.

Sea to SH7 Class 1

Shingle, braided, gorge · 49 km · 4.1 m/km

35 cumecs at Mandamus. Hurunui Mandamus now 61.1 m³/s, above the minimum.

Launch SH1

SH7 to Mandamus Class 2

Boulders, shingle, braided · 20 km · 6 m/km

40 cumecs at Mandamus. Hurunui Mandamus now 61.1 m³/s, above the minimum.

Launch Balmoral bridge, south side, at times into the Waitohi

Mandamus River to Lake Sumner Class 3

Rocks, boulders, gorgy, rapids · 40 km · 6 m/km

100 to 140 cumecs at Mandamus. Hurunui Mandamus now 61.1 m³/s, below the minimum.

Launch The Peaks, ask permission

Requires high flow conditions.

Lake Sumner to No. 3 Hut Class 3

Shingle, braided · 16 km · 7.2 m/km

Launch Loch Katrine

Requires high flow conditions. Seldom boated.

From the Jet Boating New Zealand Canterbury river information sheet of July 2024, transcribed by hand on 17 October 2026. Uplifting is whether the 5-knot limit is lifted for the section. JBNZ can update the sheet at any time; flo checked it 4.9 h ago. Open the PDF.

Weather

at Hurunui Esk Head · Open-Meteo

10pm

Overcast

4.9°

–

0 W

1am

Clear

3.6°

–

4 W

4am

Clear

2.3°

–

5 W

7am

Fog

-0.1°

–

10 W

10am

Clear

11.6°

–

7 NW

1pm

Clear

16.9°

–

2 SW

4pm

Partly cloudy

15.8°

–

7 E

7pm

Clear

13.3°

–

4 NE

10pm

Partly cloudy

7.4°

–

7 W

1am

Fog

3.8°

–

11 W

4am

Fog

2.5°

–

11 W

7am

Fog

3.1°

–

10 W

Sat Overcast 4.9°/ 4.5° dry

Sun Fog 17.3°/ -0.1° dry

Mon Fog 16.6°/ 2.5° dry

Tue Fog 15.7°/ 3.4° dry