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Facts And Figures

NUMBER OF BORES PER ANNUM

Approximately 260, i.e., 2 per day on about 130 days. Large bores on about 25 days, morning and evening.

BORE TIDES

All tides of 8 metres or over on the Sharpness gauge have bores when river conditions are normal. Large bores occur with tides over 9.5 metres at Sharpness.

HEIGHT OF BORE

Can be 3 metres in mid-stream, but 1 metre is good. Height at banks much greater than in mid-stream and further accentuated on outer banks of bends.

WIDTH OF BORE

In sandy estuary width is unconfined and variable up to 250 metres. Minsterworth to Gloucester, bank to bank, 80 to 95 metres.

SPEED OF BORE

In sandy estuary 8 to 13 kilometres per hour according to location. Minsterworth to Gloucester 16 to 21 kilometres per hour.

SPEED OF WATER

Near Sharpness maximum flood and ebb 9.5 kilometres per hour. Minsterworth to Gloucester flood ebb 8 kilometres per hour; both considerably affected by freshwater flows.

BORE SEASONS

Bores occur all the year round with spring tides, but are biggest near an equinox.

Vernal Equinox: February-March-April
Autumnal Equinox: August-September-October

BORE DATES

Maximum bores occur one to three days after new and full moons; smaller ones on days immediately preceding and following maxima.

BORE TIMES

Between 7 a.m. and noon; 7 p.m. and mid night. Largest between 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock morning and evening (GMT). Individual times determined from tide tables.

LENGTH OF TRAVEL

Awre to Gloucester-33.8 kilometres.

TIME OF TRAVEL

2 hrs. 10 mins. to 2 hrs. 35 mins. according to conditions.

LARGEST EVER

The largest recorded bore was on 15 Oct 1966 downstream of Stonebench and attained a height of 9¼ ft (2.8 m).

If you have any comments about The Severn Bore Page, please contact webadmin@severn-bore.co.uk

Some of this information on this site (including the B+W images) is sourced from the book "The Severn Bore" by Fred Rowbotham, who was District Engineer of the Severn River Board.
The times for the Severn Bore are calculated from Arrowsmith's Severn Tide Tables. No liability will be held for any inaccuracy in the times displayed.