WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Brazos River near Palo Pinto in TX, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Brazos River near Palo Pinto sits in the Middle Brazos-Palo Pinto watershed in Texas.
This station watches the river above 23,811 sq mi (61,670 km2) of drainage. That is the land area contributing flow to this gauge, not the whole Brazos system. For anyone watching crossings, bank storage, or a downstream intake, it is a large upstream area, so local rain can build on water already moving in from far upstream.
The record high at this site is 21.16 ft (6.45 m) in June 2007. The record low is 0.9 ft (0.28 m) in November 2025. That spread tells you the river can move from very low water to a much higher stage.
Seasonally, the typical high point is July at 2.12 ft (0.65 m), while the typical low point is December at 1.66 ft (0.51 m). The typical annual swing is 5.5 in (14 cm). For dock owners and anglers, that means the river’s ordinary changes are modest compared with the record extremes, but the low-water season still leaves less depth and less margin at shallow spots.
This is flash-flood country. Rain can push stages up in hours, not weeks, and long quiet stretches can be broken by a single event. If you use the river for access, livestock, or a low crossing, the practical lesson is to watch rainfall and the live stage, not just the season.
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 a level of water means different things in different parts of the year. A stage that is normal for one month may be high or low for another.
This gauge has about 50 years of record, and the data come from the USGS. That long record is what makes the calendar-day comparison useful: it puts today beside what is typical here, on this date, at this station.
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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