WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Atherton Lake Brook at Lilford Park, Leigh in England, United Kingdom, built from official government gauge data.
Atherton Lake Brook at Lilford Park, Leigh is a gauged river in England.
This station sits on Atherton Lake Brook in Leigh. With no watershed named in the station data, the page has to stay with the reach itself and its seasonal rhythm.
For people watching the water day to day, the pattern is straightforward: levels are typically higher in November at 0.45 m (1.49 ft) and lower in June at 0.22 m (0.73 ft). That spread is 23 cm (9.1 in) across the typical year, so docks, outfalls, and shallow crossings need to handle a modest but real change through the seasons.
The record high is 1.93 m (6.34 ft) in August 2004. The record low is 0.1 m (0.33 ft) in July 2011. Those two ends of the record give a sense of the range this brook can move through at this gauge.
The station record covers 11 years, so the seasonal pattern here is based on a shorter archive than some gauges. Even so, the highest typical month is late in the year, and the lowest is early summer. For anyone fishing, that means the brook can sit noticeably fuller in autumn than it does in June; for anyone drawing water or working at the bank, the low-water months are the ones to watch most closely.
The usual annual swing is 23 cm (9.1 in), which is not large in absolute terms, but it is enough to matter when the margin under a pipe, culvert, or landing stage is small.
The hero number on this page compares today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw height alone, because a level that looks ordinary in November can be high for June, and a low number can mean very different things depending on the season.
This gauge is published by the Environment Agency.
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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