WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Buffalo Creek near Rosenfeld in MB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Buffalo Creek near Rosenfeld is a river in the Upper Red watershed in Manitoba.
This station has 56 years on record. The highest level in that record is 238.69 m (783.11 ft), reached in March 2004. The lowest is 234.32 m (768.76 ft), reached in October 2012.
The seasonal pattern is narrower than the record span but still matters for nearby land and intakes. The typical high month is April at 235.58 m (772.9 ft), and the typical low month is February at 234.81 m (770.38 ft). The typical annual swing is 76.8 cm (30.2 in), which is the range a dock, crossing, or pump setup has to live with from one season to the next.
For people watching this creek, that record high says spring water can stand well above the usual seasonal crest, while the record low shows late-season drawdown can push the level well below the winter norm. No fastest 24-hour rise is listed here, so there is no short-term warning figure to quote from the record.
The gauge drains 782 km2 (302 sq mi) above the station. That is the area feeding this site, not the full Upper Red as a whole.
In Prairie hydrology, spring snowmelt floods are the main event, and summer is usually the recession period. On a creek like this, that means the first half of the year can move quickly, while later months tend to ease back toward lower levels. For fields, roads, and bank access near the channel, that seasonal rhythm is the first thing to plan around.
The number shown on the page is most useful when it is compared with the median for this calendar day at this station, not with the raw elevation alone. Raw elevation tells you where the water sits today; the calendar-day median tells you whether it is running high or low for this point in the season.
That matters because a level that looks ordinary in one month may be unusually high or low in another. With 56 years on record, the daily median gives a better read on whether today is near the usual range, above it, or below 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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