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—— ft above typical
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Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Athabasca River above Jackfish Creek in Canada, AB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Athabasca River above Jackfish Creek is a gauged river in the Lower Athabasca - Mouth watershed in Alberta.
The station sits on the Athabasca River with 159000 km2 (61390 sq mi) of upstream catchment above it. That is the area feeding this gauge, not the whole watershed name shown on the page.
For people using this reach, the key pattern is the seasonal one. The typical level is highest in July at 210.34 m (690.08 ft) and lowest in November at 209.22 m (686.4 ft), for a typical annual swing of 1.12 m (3.7 ft). In this part of the province, late-spring snowmelt is the main reason rivers usually build toward a higher season, while summer storms can still push the level up quickly.
The record high is 212.1 m (695.88 ft) in May 1997. The record low is 4.7 m (15.41 ft) in December 2015.
Those two ends matter more than the average line on a chart. A dock, bank access, or intake that works in the usual July-to-November range still has to be set with room for the record high, and anyone watching a changing riverbed has to remember that the low end can sit far below the normal seasonal band shown here.
This station has 55 years on record, so the pattern is not a short one. The monthly swing is modest in the typical year, but the extremes show that the river can still leave that band.
The hero number on this page is best read against the median for this calendar day across the station record, not as a raw elevation on its own. That comparison shows whether today is ordinary for this date, high for the season, or running low relative to what this gauge usually does at this point in the year.
With 55 years on record, that day-by-day median is the cleaner reference for cottagers, anglers, and flood-watchers than a single level by itself.
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 in a growing number of countries. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 17,900 gauged lakes and rivers in a growing number of countries, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, the Environment Agency for England, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales, the Office of Public Works in Ireland (waterlevel.ie), the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), the State of Queensland's water monitoring network, and on the Great Lakes the Canadian Hydrographic Service and NOAA. 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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