WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
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Live lake level, flow, historical records and forecast for Dauphin Lake in Canada, MB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Dauphin Lake sits in the Mossy watershed in Manitoba.
The lake’s usual high point is June at 260.67 m (855.22 ft), and its usual low point is March at 260.33 m (854.08 ft). That typical annual swing is 34.6 cm (13.6 in), which is small enough to matter for a dock, but not enough to rewrite the shoreline from month to month.
For Prairie water, spring snowmelt is the main season to watch, and summer recession is the usual follow-on. On this lake, the record season sits in that pattern: June is the typical high month, while March is the typical low month.
The station drains 8710 km2 (3363 sq mi) upstream of the gauge, so changes you see here reflect that whole area above the outlet.
The record high is 262.34 m (860.71 ft) in June 2011. The record low is 259.2 m (850.38 ft) in September 1961.
The fastest 24-hour rise was 74.3 cm (29.3 in) in November 1961. For anyone watching a shoreline, that is the kind of move that shortens response time fast.
The fastest 24-hour drop was 66.5 cm (26.2 in) in July 1949. That tells you the lake can move hard in both directions, even outside the spring peak.
The hero number on this page is the current reading set against the median for this calendar day, using the 77 years on record at station 05LJ009. That is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether today sits near the middle of the long-term daily range, not just how high the water is in metres.
For an operator, cottager, or angler, that context is the point: it puts the present level beside what this date usually looks like at Dauphin Lake.
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 in a growing number of countries. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 17,900 gauged lakes and rivers in a growing number of countries, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, the Environment Agency for England, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales, the Office of Public Works in Ireland (waterlevel.ie), the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), the State of Queensland's water monitoring network, and on the Great Lakes the Canadian Hydrographic Service and NOAA. 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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