WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live lake level, flow, historical records and forecast for Cross Lake at Shreveport in LA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Cross Lake sits in the Cross Bayou watershed in Louisiana.
This station is on a lake in the Cross Bayou watershed. For people using the water, that matters because the gauge is reading this lake at this point, not the whole watershed upstream. On the USGS record, the station has more than 30 years on record.
The record high is 176.69 ft (53.86 m), reached in March 2016. The record low is 166.88 ft (50.86 m), reached in October 2011. That span gives a sense of the range this lake has covered at this site.
The seasonal pattern is fairly narrow at the monthly median scale: March is typically the highest month at 170.88 ft (52.08 m), and November is typically the lowest month at 169.66 ft (51.71 m). The typical annual swing is 14.7 in (37.3 cm). For a dock, intake, or shoreline user, that is a modest month-to-month change, but the record range shows the lake can sit well above or below its typical season.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed for this station, so there is nothing here to use as a warning-time figure.
Today’s reading is best judged against the median for this calendar day, not by raw elevation alone. The same level can mean something different in March than it does in November, and the calendar-day median shows whether the lake is running high or low for this date.
This page uses the USGS station record at Cross Lake at Shreveport, and the record length is more than 30 years.
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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