WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Cedar River near Landsburg in WA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Cedar River near Landsburg sits in the Lake Washington watershed in Washington.
The record at this station runs back more than 50 years, so the highs and lows here give a useful local range.
The highest stage in the record is 10.96 ft (3.34 m) in April 1985. The lowest is 0.71 ft (0.22 m) in October 1987. That spread is the range a dock, pump, or intake has to live with over time.
The seasonal pattern is fairly tight. January is the highest typical month at 2.21 ft (0.67 m), while September is the lowest at 1.12 ft (0.34 m). The typical annual swing is 13.1 in (33.3 cm). For someone watching the river, that means winter tends to sit higher than late summer, and late-summer margins can be narrow.
This station drains 121 sq mi (313 km2) upstream of the gauge.
That upstream area is what matters for rain, snow, and runoff reaching this point, not the broader watershed name on the page. For local use, the practical question is how much water arrives at this reach after a wet spell, and how much the river drops by late summer. In a Pacific Northwest pattern, west-side rivers often respond to fall and winter storms, while snowmelt-dominated rivers tend to peak later in the spring. This station’s monthly pattern belongs to the record above: January is the typical high month, and September is the typical low month.
The hero number on this page is the current reading set against the median for this calendar day across the station’s record. That is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether today is ordinary for this date, high for the season, or running low compared with the station’s own history.
This station is operated by the USGS. With more than 50 years on record, the calendar-day median gives a better local benchmark than a single number 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 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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