Garonne River Water Levels Outlook, Week of December 8, 2025

Published on Jun 22, 2025, 8:23 pm CDTUpdated on Dec 8, 2025, 9:42 am CST

8 min read

The lower Garonne around Bordeaux is running in a high normal early winter pattern, with France's flood services holding Gironde on a yellow [low level] flood vigilance for river rises rather than severe flooding. ^1,2,3,4 Recent storms in southwest France raised concern in late November, but so far December has been warmer and drier than average, which has limited the build up of extreme river volumes in the Garonne basin. ^5,6,7

For the next seven days, the main driver is a mild Atlantic pattern, with scattered light rain, modest day time highs in the 50s and low 60s °F, and only small total rainfall, on the order of a few tenths of an inch. ^4,7,8 Flood agencies still flag Gironde in yellow for river flooding today and tomorrow, which means localized issues near exposed banks or floodplains are possible, but major navigation closures on the Garonne itself are not currently indicated. ^2,3,4

Travelers on December Bordeaux itineraries should treat the week as a Caution scenario: expect normal sailing most days, but allow room for speed restrictions, tide timing changes, or a short stretch replaced by coach if water rises more than expected. ^4,9,10,11,13 If you are booked within the next three weeks, stay in touch with your cruise line and advisor, watch for pre departure emails about any high water adjustments, and consider Cancel For Any Reason coverage if you would be badly impacted by a partial itinerary. ^9,10,11,13

Current Conditions

Primary gauge: Bordeaux (Vigicrues station O972001001). ¹

The Bordeaux gauge is available on the national Vigicrues platform with 30 day height and discharge graphics, but the static data view used here does not expose a real time numeric height table, so a precise latest reading is not available in this format. Data unavailable. ¹ The national flood vigilance map shows metropolitan France capped at yellow flood vigilance today, with only three river sections in that category and no orange or red flood alerts in effect. ²

Within that framework, Meteo France lists Gironde in yellow for "crues" [river flooding] for both Monday December 8 and Tuesday December 9, signaling a need for care along rivers but not a major flood emergency. ³ A separate daily forecast page for Bordeaux also highlights a yellow flood warning stretching from early December into January, which reflects seasonal vigilance during the wet months rather than a specific forecast of continuous flooding. ⁴ Taken together, these signals point to elevated but manageable river levels on the lower Garonne and estuary, with localized bank side flooding possible in low lying areas but normal navigation still plausible for Bordeaux based river cruises. ^2,3,4,9,11

Seven-Day Outlook

A detailed seven day gauge chart for the Bordeaux station is not accessible in the static hydrology data used here, so the outlook relies on weather forecasts and recent climate behavior rather than a modelled stage height curve. ^1,4,7,8 Forecasts for Bordeaux show a mild week, with highs mostly in the upper 50s to mid 60s °F [13 to 18 °C], a mix of clouds and sun, and only one or two days with light rain or drizzle. ^4,7

Across several forecast suites, total rainfall for the next week clusters in the single digit millimeter range, roughly 0.20 in [about 5 mm] of rain in and around Bordeaux, which is relatively modest for December. ^7,8 Climatology for Bordeaux in December usually features around 97 mm [3.8 in] of rain over the month and 16 days with some precipitation, so this particular week looks drier than the long term average and does not, by itself, point to a new surge in Garonne levels. ⁵ Given existing yellow river flood vigilance but limited additional rain, the seven day navigation risk for the Garonne is best described as Caution, mainly for localized bank side flooding and timing tweaks rather than full scale cruise disruption. ^{2,3,4,9,11,13}

Three-Week Risk Forecast

Period	Likelihood of Disruption	Confidence
Days 1 to 7	Caution	High
Days 8 to 14	Caution	Medium
Days 15 to 21	Normal	Low

December in Bordeaux is normally a wet month, but monitoring data so far this December show total rainfall around 1.4 in [about 35 mm], which is roughly one third of the typical monthly total near 3.7 in [about 94 mm]. ^5,6 That means catchments are not as saturated as they would be in a classic flood season, although earlier autumn storms still left a clear signal of vulnerability in southwest France. ^6,7,14,15 Looking two to three weeks out, long range guidance hints at continued changeable Atlantic weather with passing fronts but no locked in extreme pattern, so it is reasonable to keep the Garonne at Caution for days 8 to 14, then tentatively downgrade to Normal for days 15 to 21, with lower confidence beyond day 10 as usual. ^4,7,8,13 If you are considering Cancel For Any Reason insurance, keep in mind that many policies require purchase at the time of initial deposit or within a short window, and they often reimburse only a percentage of trip cost, so timing your decision matters. ¹³

Cruise-Line Responses

Reservations teams for AmaWaterways continue to market December 2025 "Taste of Bordeaux" cruises, including a December 11 round trip sailing from Bordeaux, with no public water level advisories or systematic bus bridging noted in the dates and prices or descriptive itinerary pages. ¹⁰

Product and sales teams for Viking River Cruises are still promoting the "Châteaux, Rivers & Wine" Bordeaux round trip, which sails on the Garonne, Dordogne, and Gironde, and their 2025 itinerary materials show normal patterns of port calls and scenic sailing, with no current mention of high water reroutes specific to early winter. ⁹

Marketing material for CroisiEurope's Bordeaux region cruises, which combine the Garonne, Dordogne, and Gironde estuary, also describe standard itineraries without listing high water contingency bussing for December departures, suggesting that, as of now, operations are planned as normal even while local flood vigilance remains at yellow. ¹¹

Itinerary pages for Uniworld's "Brilliant Bordeaux," which also uses the Garonne, Dordogne, and Gironde network, focus on 2026 sailings and do not include any standing warning about recurrent winter water level disruptions on this route, reinforcing the idea that early winter is not historically the most problematic period for Bordeaux cruises, even though individual storms can still cause short term issues. ^12,13

Traveler Advice

If you are already booked to sail the Garonne in the next three weeks, treat conditions as a manageable Caution scenario. Build at least one night of buffer before embarkation in Bordeaux, keep your cruise line app or email alerts switched on, and read any pre departure notes or port requirement updates, especially because moderate flooding tends to affect berth access, gangway slopes, or coach routing long before it cancels an entire sailing. ^{3,4,9,10,11,13,14}

Near term shoppers, including those eyeing mid December or early January Bordeaux departures, should weigh the appeal of quieter winter sailings against the small but real chance that a strong Atlantic system could bump the Garonne into higher flood stages. Historical patterns show that high water issues on European rivers are more common in spring snowmelt or during sequences of intense storms, while low water problems tend to peak in late summer, and so far December 2025 has been warmer and drier than average around Bordeaux. ^5,6,8,13,16 In practice, that means you can book winter itineraries with reasonable confidence, but you should still read the small print on itinerary change clauses and decide how comfortable you are with occasional coach segments between 30 and 90 minutes if a section of river is closed. ^9,10,11,13

For travelers planning Bordeaux cruises more than three weeks out, especially into spring 2026, treat any specific water level forecast as speculative. Long lead climate signals can describe likely storm tracks and temperature patterns, but they cannot say whether the Garonne will sit at 3.3 ft or 6.6 ft [1.0 or 2.0 m] on a particular date, and past seasons have shown that even "typical" rivers can deliver unusual high or low water outside their normal windows. ^6,13,16 Focus instead on structural risk controls you can actually manage, such as choosing lines that are transparent about how they handle disruptions, keeping flights flexible where possible, and using insurance or credit card protections that fit your own tolerance for partial itineraries rather than betting that any one forecast will be right three months from now. ^9,10,11,13

Methodology

This outlook combines hydrology context from France's Vigicrues gauge network, flood vigilance information from Meteo France, multi model weather and precipitation forecasts, long term climate normals and 2025 anomaly reports for Bordeaux, and public cruise line schedule data, with U.S. unit conversions from metric made using standard factors [for example, multiplying meters by 3.281 to obtain feet]. ^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13}

Disclaimer

Forecasts beyond ten days are probabilistic and may change without notice. This information does not constitute financial or insurance advice.