WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Blue R at Kenneth Road, Overland Park in KS, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Blue River in the Lower Missouri-Crooked watershed, Kansas, is measured at Kenneth Road in Overland Park.
The record high here is 16.27 ft (4.96 m), set in August 2017. The record low is 4.39 ft (1.34 m), set in October 2022.
The seasonal pattern is modest but real. May is the typical high month at 5.62 ft (1.71 m), while August is the typical low month at 5.06 ft (1.54 m). The typical annual swing is 6.8 in (17.2 cm).
For anyone watching a bank, culvert, dock, or low crossing, that means this site usually stays within a fairly tight band, but the historic range is much wider than the month-to-month pattern. In plain terms: normal seasonal changes are small, while the record spread shows how far the river can move when conditions change.
This station drains 65.8 sq mi (170 km2) above the gauge. That is the area feeding water to this point, not the full watershed downstream of it.
This part of Kansas follows a plains rhythm: spring and summer storms can push water up quickly, then long dry recessions can let levels fall back slowly. On flat ground, high water tends to linger. For local users, that means the timing of storm runoff matters as much as the total rain.
The number on the page is today’s reading set against the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation, because it shows whether the river is running above or below its usual level for this date.
This station is run by the USGS, and it has more than 23 years of record behind it.
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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