Gage Greatness 2025 - Does the Upper Midwest Water Science Center have the #GreatestGage?
Celebrate the USGS's streamgaging network by voting for your favorite streamgage every March with the USGS Water Mission Area's Gage Greatness bracket-style competition. Read about our 2025 contender below and see how our 2024 streamgage did in last year's matchup.
Are you ready for #GageGreatness?
Join the USGS Water Mission Area every March for our annual streamgage bracket competition, Gage Greatness!
It's the time of year when USGS water science centers compete to claim the title of the Greatest Gage! The competition starts March 17, 2025. Voting takes place on Instagram, hosted by the USGS Water Mission Area, @usgs_water.
2025 Upper Midwest Water Science Center streamgage contender
This year the Upper Midwest Water Science Center is featuring streamgage 04045500, Tahquamenon River Near Paradise, Michigan.
It’s just another day in Paradise!
Paradise, Michigan that is.
This streamgage measures streamflow about 0.6 miles upstream of the mighty Tahquamenon Falls, which is the centerpiece of Michigan's Tahquamenon Falls State Park's nearly 50,000 acres. The Upper Falls, one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River, has a drop of nearly 50 feet, is more than 200 feet across and has a maximum water flow of more than 50,000 gallons per second.
The mighty Tahquamenon River begins about 70 miles upstream of streamgage 04045500 Tahquamenon River Near Paradise, Michigan as a small creek. As the river meanders east, it’s fed by an 800 square mile watershed as water from higher elevations drains into the river.
The USGS maintains a streamgaging station that measures continuous data: Gage height (feet), Discharge (cubic feet per second), Precipitation (total inches), and stream water level elevation about NAVD 1988 (feet).
The streamgage also has a cableway that is used to transport hydrologic technicians to the center of the river to take discreet measurements over time, such as streamflow, using an acoustic Doppler current profiler.
Peak flow (discharge) generally occurs in April, when warm sunny days combined with rain melt the winter snowpack, producing millions of gallons of water that tumbles over the falls. Record flow over the waterfall was 52,228 gallons per second on May 10, 1960! (6,982 cubic feet per second)
With the amount of snowpack shown on the photo above (December 2024), how much flow do you think we’ll see from the river this year?
Gage Greatness 2024
In 2024, the Upper Midwest Water Science Center's streamgage 04015330 Knife River near Two Harbors, Minnesota did not advance past round one, against 06414000 Rapid Creek at Rapid City, South Dakota.
Vote for your favorite streamgage!
Voting starts Monday, March 17.
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