Gauge Description:

There is a visual gage painted on the river right bridge abutment on Note: there is a new gage painted on the center abutement of the bridge but all data guide information (including this format) has been acquired from the old paddlers gauge on river right.

Minimum....... .7
Scratchy......<1.0
Low...........<1.5
Low to medium.<1.9
Medium........<2.8
Mdium high....<3.5
High..........>3.8

The Saco drains the southern portions of the Presidential Mountains of NH. This area is the highest terrain in the northeastern US. It is also the snowiest region in the eastern US. Snowmelt usually fills the Saco late in April and into May. During snowy winters the runoff can be consistant from mid April through late May.
Estimated chance (%) of finding the river runnable.
 

Month............% chance....comment
January .............0%....Frozen
February.............0%....Frozen
March...............10%....Usually frozen.
April...............65%....Most dependable month
May ................40%....especially early in month.                
June................20%
July.................5%      
August...............5%
September...........15%....Tropical storms and their remains
October.............20%....Trees go dormant less water being absorbed by them
November............30%      
December............25%....River starts freezing up early in month.

Be aware this is averaged out over several years. The % chance refers to the probability of finding the river running on any given day. For instance a 5% probability for July means on average you can only expect 1.5 days of water. One year there could be 3 days in July with water other years none. Spring levels are usually higher than fall levels.