BirdTrout
Owasco River, New York
14.2 mapped river miles, draining 224 square miles, in the Finger Lakes basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 33.8 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, 33.8 miles away at Oswego River At Lock 7, Oswego Ny, is not reporting water temperature: its water-temperature series is empty, and was last stamped 7 October 2024. 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, ±2.2 °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 14.2–14.2 | 12.1 | cold | — |
NYSDEC has classified 12.1 of the 33 miles NHD carries for this stream — 37% 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.
Questions about this river
- Owasco River fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to the Owasco River — access, parking and public land
- Owasco River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
NYSDEC classification
NYSDEC classifies this water as Class AA — drinking water source 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
10 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 10,319 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown Park | another state agency | 28 |
| City Of Auburn Land | city land | 113 |
| Owasco Outlet — Municipal Land, Fishing Access | Municipal | 9 |
| Market St Park | city land | 1 |
| Barbara Jay Park | city land | 1 |
| Northern Montezuma Wma | state conservation department | 7,837 |
| Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area | state conservation department | 2,295 |
| Unknown Park | city land | 34 |
| Wall St Playground | city land | 1 |
| Freedom Park | city land | 0 |
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
Owasco River sits in HUC 8 04140201, the Finger Lakes basin, and drains 224 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 52 NHD reaches carry the name for 33.0 miles in total — more than the 14.2 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.