Amsterdam boating data
Amsterdam water level today
The water stands at −41 cm NAP, 1 cm below its normal level, according to Rijkswaterstaat. Every bridge clears a little more than its published figure.
- Last checked 09:10, 7 October 2026
- Source: Rijkswaterstaat
- Refreshed every 3 hours
These readings come from Amsterdam, Surinamekade, on the IJ. The city canals are held at the same normal level and connect to it, so the reading is a close guide to the canals, not a gauge inside them.
Water level now
−41 cm NAP
09:10, 7 October 2026 · Amsterdam, Surinamekade
- Normal level
- −40 cm NAP
- Difference
- −1 cm
Key findings
What we found
- Between 3 September 2025 and 7 October 2026 the water ranged from −53 cm NAP to −31 cm NAPThe lowest reading was on 22 January 2026, the highest on 20 November 2025: a 22 cm spread between the roomiest and the tightest the bridges have been.
- The water stood 10 cm or more above normal on 40 days in 2001, the most since 1999In 2025 it was 1 days, at Amsterdam, Surinamekade.
- Schiphol averaged 23 days of 25 °C or more a year in the 2010sIn the 1950s it averaged 10, according to KNMI daily records.
What NAP means
Every height in the country starts from one zero.
What is NAP?
Normaal Amsterdams Peil, the Dutch national height datum: the zero every official height in the Netherlands is measured from. Canal water sits below it, so the figures here are negative.
What does today's number mean?
The water is held at a set level, its normal level: −40 cm NAP here. The difference between today's reading and that level is what matters.
What does it mean for boaters?
A published bridge clearance assumes the water is at its normal level. Real clearance = published clearance − (today's level − the normal level). Water above normal takes headroom away; water below gives it back. Always check each bridge on your route, and read the board at the bridge before you go under.
The daily record
From −53 cm NAP to −31 cm NAP 3 September 2025 to 7 October 2026.
Month by month
| Month | Low | High | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 20267 days | -46 | -37 | -40.9 |
| September 202630 days | -52 | -33 | -40.2 |
| August 202631 days | -49 | -36 | -41.2 |
| July 202631 days | -47 | -34 | -39.9 |
| June 202630 days | -49 | -31 | -40.3 |
| May 202631 days | -51 | -34 | -40.6 |
| April 202630 days | -51 | -35 | -41.1 |
| March 202631 days | -51 | -33 | -40.6 |
| February 202628 days | -53 | -33 | -41.1 |
| January 202631 days | -53 | -31 | -40.8 |
| December 202531 days | -52 | -33 | -41 |
| November 202530 days | -49 | -31 | -40.7 |
| October 202531 days | -49 | -33 | -40.5 |
| September 202528 days | -48 | -33 | -39.4 |
All figures in centimetres relative to NAP.
Over the decades
What has changed, measured, not modelled.
Figure 1
The water stood 10 cm or more above normal on 40 days in 2001
Days a year with a reading 10 cm or more above the regulated level, Amsterdam, Surinamekade
- 1999: 30
- 2001: 40 (highest)
- 2025: 1
Figure 2
The sea at IJmuiden averaged 8 cm NAP in 2016-25, 6 cm higher than in 1981-90
Yearly mean sea level, centimetres relative to NAP, IJmuiden, buitenhaven
Figure 3
Schiphol averaged 23 days of 25 °C or more a year in the 2010s, against 10 in the 1950s
Days with a maximum of 25 °C or more, average per year by decade, Schiphol
| Decade | Average per year | Change on the decade before |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s1952-59 | 10 | |
| 1960s | 8 | ▼ 2 |
| 1970s | 14 | ▲ 5 |
| 1980s | 17 | ▲ 3 |
| 1990s | 21 | ▲ 4 |
| 2000s | 21 | ▼ 0 |
| 2010s | 23 | ▲ 2 |
Figure 4
Schiphol had 57 days of boating weather a year in the 2010s
Days from May to September with a maximum of 20 °C or more, under 1 mm of rain and a mean wind under 5.5 m/s, by decade
| Decade | Average per year | Change on the decade before |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s1971-79 | 43 | |
| 1980s | 44 | ▲ 1 |
| 1990s | 49 | ▲ 5 |
| 2000s | 53 | ▲ 4 |
| 2010s | 57 | ▲ 4 |
Figure 5
The water at Amsterdam, NDSM werf (IJ) averaged 20 °C or more on 85 days in 2025
Days a year with a mean water temperature of 20 °C or more, Amsterdam, NDSM werf (IJ)
- 2016: 80
- 2023: 95 (highest)
- 2025: 85
Data and methodology
How we built it from official data to this page.
Measure
Rijkswaterstaat reads the water height every ten minutes; KNMI records the weather every day.
Collect
Every 3 hours we store the latest reading and one row a day: the low, the high and the average.
Summarise
Full years only, and a decade needs seven. A reading 50 cm off the normal level is a sensor fault.
Show honestly
No smoothing, no models, no forecasts. A stale reading is labelled as one.
- Sources
- Rijkswaterstaat (CC0)KNMI daily weather records (CC BY 4.0)
- Coverage
- Amsterdam, Surinamekade
- Last checked
- 09:10, 7 October 2026
- Updated
- Every 3 hours; the long record yearly
- About the data
- Rijkswaterstaat measures the water height every ten minutes, in centimetres relative to NAP. KNMI publishes daily weather. Both are official, observed records.
- What we add
- We keep one row a day with that day's low, high and average, and the yearly figures behind the decades: high-water days (a reading 10 cm or more above normal), warm days (25 °C or more) and boating weather (May to September, 20 °C or more, under 1 mm of rain, wind under 5.5 m/s). Full years only; a decade needs seven. A canal reading more than 50 cm from the regulated level is treated as a sensor fault. Where Rijkswaterstaat publishes a predicted (astronomical) tide beside the measurement, we use the measurement only. KNMI records are KNMI's raw station data, used from 1952: De Bilt's thermometer screen changed in 1950 and the station moved in 1951.
Planning a route today?
Today's level changes the headroom under every bridge. A route shows each bridge on your way and its published clearance.