Bighorn River at Kane streamflow

Daily mean discharge, Bighorn-Missouri basin, Wyoming

Data through Sep 9, 2026 · source last checked Sep 10, 2026 · page revised Sep 10, 2026

Cite

Bighorn River at Kane: 630 cfs daily mean discharge as of Sep 9, 2026 (USGS). The Waterline. https://the-waterline.com/streamflow/bighorn-river-at-kane

cfs

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<p style="font-size:12px;margin:4px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://the-waterline.com/streamflow/bighorn-river-at-kane?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=credit">The Waterline</a> · updates automatically</p>
<p style="font-size:11px;color:#6b6b6b;margin:2px 0 0">About this data: US Geological Survey (USGS) · Daily mean streamflow (discharge) · Bighorn River at Kane · cfs · Daily mean · through Sep 9, 2026</p>

Free to republish with attribution. The chart updates automatically as new data lands.

About this data

Source: US Geological Survey (USGS)
Series: Daily mean streamflow (discharge)
Geography: Bighorn River at Kane
Unit: cfs
Calculation: Daily mean
Last observation: Sep 9, 2026
Update frequency: Daily

Now 630 cfs, 50% below the 5-yr median.

The numbers
Period	Current	Prior	Change
Week over week	630 cfs	755 cfs	-16.6%
Month over month	630 cfs	494 cfs	+27.5%
Year over year	630 cfs	1,100 cfs	-42.7%
vs 5-yr median	630 cfs	1,250 cfs	-49.6%

Typical flow for this week of the year (5-year record)
Reading	Discharge
Lowest on record for this week	902 cfs
Median for this week	1,250 cfs
Highest on record for this week	2,860 cfs

Previous weeks

Week of Aug 26, 2026

Bighorn River at Kane streamflow fell to 685 cfs, down 13.8% from the prior week. The flow sits 40% below the 5-year median.

Week of Aug 19, 2026

Bighorn streamflow at Kane rose to 795 cfs, up 70.2% on the week. The reading sits 11% below the 5-year median. Month over month, discharge fell 16.7%.

An earlier week

Bighorn streamflow at Kane dropped to 467 cfs, down 34% on the week. Year over year the gauge fell 24%. It sits 55% below the 5-year median for this period.

Week of Aug 13, 2026

Bighorn River at Kane dropped to 502 cfs, down 37.3% on the month and 63% below the 5-year median. Week over week, the gauge dropped 23.7%.

About Bighorn River at Kane

USGS gage 06279500 measures the Bighorn River at Kane, Wyoming, below Boysen Reservoir and the Wind River Canyon and just above Bighorn Lake behind Yellowtail Dam. The river changes names at Wedding of the Waters above this reach: the Wind River becomes the Bighorn, and this gage reads the combined drainage off the Wind River Range and the Absarokas after the Boysen release and the Wind River Indian Reservation's irrigation diversions have shaped it.

A normal year shows a spring snowmelt rise, a summer supported by Boysen releases for downstream irrigation and by hydropower operations, and a low winter. Because it measures inflow to Bighorn Lake, the reading here drives Reclamation's operating decisions at Yellowtail, which in turn govern the tailwater trout fishery below the dam and the Bighorn's contribution to the Yellowstone and upper Missouri.