BirdTrout
Genesee River, New York
13.4 mapped river miles, draining 1,075 square miles, in the Upper Genesee basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 38.9 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is NYSDEC's classification of the water itself.
50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands, breaking at 58, 64 and 70°F, that the app paints. Grey is water nobody has measured.
The nearest gauge, and why there is no reading from it
The nearest gauge, 38.9 miles away at Allegheny River At Salamanca Ny, is not reporting water temperature: its water-temperature series is empty, and was last stamped 14 August 2026. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. What is below is modelled from the years that gauge did report: this gauge's own fitted line, its intercept plus its slope against the 4-day mean air temperature over it, fitted on its own daily record, ±2.9 °F. The shape of the week at that gauge, not a thermometer in this stream.
Thermal classification
NYSDEC's classification of this water, reach by reach. A class, not a temperature — no July mean, because none was measured here.
| Reach | Typed miles | Band | NYSDEC type |
|---|---|---|---|
| RM 13.4–13.4 | 17.3 | cold | — |
NYSDEC has classified 17.3 of the 95 miles NHD carries for this stream — 18% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold. The untyped reaches are not warm water — they are water NYSDEC's inventory does not reach, and the mile ranges above span only the reaches it does.
The lake run
The Genesee River is a Lake Ontario tributary with 6.4 miles of run corridor on it — salmon, steelhead and lake-run brown trout, on their own calendar and under their own rules. Run timing, species and access on the Genesee River →
Questions about this river
- Genesee River fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to the Genesee River — access, parking and public land
- Genesee River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
NYSDEC classification
NYSDEC classifies this water as Class A — drinking water source, Class B — swimming and contact recreation, and Class C — fishing. More than one class appears because the classification changes along the river. The thermal bar above shows where. On those reaches DEC also designates it trout waters — which is the half of the classification that is about temperature, and the half this map paints by. The class is a designation of best usage under 6 NYCRR — what the water is protected for — and not the season and creel rules, which change yearly and live with the agency.
NYSDEC water quality classifications and standards →
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 15,830 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Letchworth State Park | state park agency | 14,599 |
| Livingston County Park | county land | 71 |
| Genesee Valley Greenway State Park | state park agency | 1,161 |
Species
NYSDEC designates this as trout water — Trout waters — without naming the species. No fish survey or stocking record for this water is in the files this site reads.
Tributaries and watershed
2 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Canaseraga Creek 52.1 mi · RM 0.6
- Silver Lake Outlet 11.4 mi · RM 9.4
Genesee River sits in HUC 8 04130002, the Upper Genesee basin, and drains 1,075 square miles, Strahler order 6 at the mouth. 222 NHD reaches carry the name for 95.5 miles in total — more than the 13.4 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 5 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.