WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live lake level, flow, historical records and forecast for Deadwood Reservoir near Lowman ID in ID, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Deadwood Reservoir sits in the South Fork Payette watershed in Idaho.
The highest level in the record is 5333.41 ft (1625.62 m), reached in June 2026. The lowest level in the record is 5322.25 ft (1622.22 m), reached in August 2026.
Those two readings matter because they bracket the range a dock, intake, or shoreline setup has to handle here. A difference of 11.16 ft (3.40 m) is large enough to change how far a boat ramp reaches and how much shallow margin is left near shore.
I do not have seasonal-month data or 24-hour rise data to add beyond those record points.
The station drains 109 sq mi (282 km2) above the gauge. That is the area whose runoff and snowmelt feed this reading, not the whole South Fork Payette watershed.
For people using the reservoir, that upstream area is the part that sets the level at the station. In a mountain-snowmelt basin, the broad pattern is usually a higher spring window and lower late-summer water, so the year’s timing matters as much as the number itself. This page’s record low in August fits the late-season part of that cycle.
The hero number on this page should be read against the median for this calendar day at the USGS station, not as a raw elevation. That comparison is better because the same level can mean different things at different times of year.
USGS is the operating agency here. I do not have yearsOnRecord to quote, so I will not guess at the record length.
When the hero number sits above the day’s median, the reservoir is running higher than usual for that date; when it sits below, it is running lower. For cottagers, anglers, and anyone watching access or shoreline conditions, that daily context is the part that helps.
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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