Data Sources
Every feed BayouWatch reads from, how often it updates, and what it's used for.
Live stream-gauge stage readings (feet) are polled every 5 minutes from the USGS Water Services API (waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/iv) via our internal /api/gaugesroute, then normalized against each gauge's NWS minor and major flood-stage thresholds to produce a 0–100% flood-capacity reading.
| Site Code | Gauge | Bayou |
|---|---|---|
| 08073600 | Buffalo Bayou at West Belt Dr | Buffalo Bayou |
| 08073700 | Buffalo Bayou at Piney Point | Buffalo Bayou |
| 08074250 | Brickhouse Gully | White Oak Bayou |
| 08074500 | White Oak Bayou at Houston | White Oak Bayou |
| 08075000 | Brays Bayou at Houston | Brays Bayou |
| 08075500 | Sims Bayou at Houston | Sims Bayou |
| 08076000 | Greens Bayou at Houston | Greens Bayou |
| 08076700 | Greens Bayou at Ley Rd | Greens Bayou |
Rainfall forecasts and active storm advisories from NOAA/NHC inform BayouWatch's predictive layer, giving lead time before bayou stage gauges actually begin to rise during a developing storm.
Current Houston temperature, humidity, cloud cover, wind, and hourly rainfall totals are fetched every 5 minutes from the OpenWeather Current Weather API through our internal /api/weather route, which is used to power the Weather page and to trigger rain-driven sensor alerts when 1-hour rainfall exceeds 10mm.
BayouWatch combines live gauge trajectory (rate of stage rise) with incoming rainfall forecasts to estimate a 30–60 minute early-warning window before a given street segment floods — modeled loosely on the historical Hurricane Harvey rainfall-to-stage relationship shown in our Harvey Simulation.