WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Arroyo Seco near Soledad CA in CA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Arroyo Seco near Soledad in California sits in the Salinas watershed.
The station drains 244 sq mi (632 km2) upstream of the gauge. That is the area this page is tracking, not the whole watershed on a map.
For people using the river, the useful pattern is in the record: the highest level on file is 10.48 ft (3.19 m) in January 2023, and the lowest is -1.35 ft (-0.41 m) in September 2025. The typical high month is March at 1.44 ft (0.44 m), while the typical low month is September at 0.04 ft (0.01 m). The usual annual swing is 16.8 in (42.7 cm).
That spread matters. A dock, pump intake, or crossing that works in March can be stressed by late-summer water levels, and the record low shows how far the channel can fall. The record high shows the other side of the range: winter can bring a much higher stage than the seasonal average.
This station’s record fits the broader regional rhythm. Spring snowmelt tends to lift flows, summer usually runs low, and winter storms can bring the largest floods. The key point for local users is not the cause but the timing: March is the typical high month here, and September is the typical low month.
With 50 years on record, the station has enough history to show the seasonal cycle clearly. The two bookends are far apart enough that planning for water access, bank stability, and low-flow conditions should use both ends of the range, not just the average.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading compared with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether the river is running high or low for this date, not just where it sits above sea level.
This page is based on USGS data. With more than 50 years on record, the calendar-day median gives a better sense of what is normal right now at the Arroyo Seco than a single stage reading on its own.
Readings come from official government gauges and are rolled into daily records: the daily mean, high and low for every day on record. Each calendar day gets its own baseline from the full history, so the level you see is compared against what this specific date usually looks like rather than an annual average.
Real-time water levels, forecasts, and alerts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 13,000 gauged lakes and rivers across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, and the Environment Agency for England. Every number on the platform is measured, not modelled - taken from a government gauge on the water itself and compared against that location's own historical record for this exact date.
The level right now, in feet or metres, updated as the source agency publishes new readings - for many stations that is every five to fifteen minutes. How today compares to typical: every location carries its own typical-for-this-date band built from its historical record, so a reading is never just a number - it is above, below, or near what this water usually does on this calendar day. Which way it is moving: a measured RISING, FALLING, or STEADY verdict computed from the gauge's own recent readings, with the rate of change - the difference between a flood ending and one beginning. What comes next: level forecasts up to 72 hours ahead, driven by the gauge's recent behaviour, upstream water, and quantitative precipitation forecasts, alongside live radar, lightning, and weather for the surrounding region.
Set a threshold on any location - a level, a distance above typical, or a rate of climb - and Nibi emails or notifies you the moment the gauge crosses it. Cottagers use it for spring freshet, anglers for river conditions, marinas and municipalities for operations. The scanning runs around the clock against the same measured data shown on every page.
Nibi means water in Anishinaabemowin. The platform began at a family cottage on Lake Muskoka, Ontario, where the spring melt floods the shoreline most years and the only forecast was standing on the dock, looking, and guessing. It grew into an independent, member-funded platform run by Muskoka Research Inc. - no investors, no data resale, and a privacy policy shorter than most cookie banners. The core data is free for everyone, forever; paid plans add automation like multi-location alerts, deep history, and reports.
Nibi spans the continent: every Canadian province and territory with active federal gauges - from Vancouver Island rivers to the Muskoka lakes, prairie reservoirs, and Quebec's hydrometric network - and the United States from Maine to the Texas Hill Country, the Ohio Valley, and the Pacific Northwest. Coverage grows where the water news is: when a basin floods, its gauges join the platform with their full historical records attached. Many stations report every five to fifteen minutes; most report at least hourly; every page states exactly when its gauge last spoke.
The core promise is simple: the water data is free, for everyone, forever. Live levels, maps, radar, and recent history never sit behind a paywall. Paid plans fund the platform by adding automation - multi-location alerts, decades of history, longer forecasts, and PDF reports - so the people who need more carry the cost for everyone who just needs to check the lake before driving up. There are no investors and no advertising deals shaping what the data says.
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