WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Delaware River at Frenchtown NJ in NJ, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Delaware River at Frenchtown NJ is a gauged river in the Middle Delaware-Musconetcong watershed, New Jersey.
The seasonal pattern here is clear in the record. The typical high point comes in April at 4.1 ft (1.25 m), while the typical low point comes in September at 1.6 ft (0.49 m). That annual swing is 30 in (76.1 cm), enough to matter for docks, ramps, and shallow crossings.
For spring users, April is the month to watch. For late-summer anglers and paddlers, September is usually the tighter water window. The river can move from one season’s higher level to the next season’s low without much warning in between, so a fixed setup should be ready for both ends of the range.
The highest level in the station record is 18.32 ft (5.58 m) in September 2011. The lowest is 0.82 ft (0.25 m) in August 2022. With 19 years on record, those two points show how far this river can move outside its usual seasonal band.
The archive does not give a fastest 24-hour rise, so there is no warning-time figure to quote here. Even so, the record high is the number to keep in mind during heavy rain events, especially in the wetter part of the year and when tropical systems or their remnants track through the region. The low record is the other side of the same problem: by late summer, water can get shallow enough to affect access and fish holding water.
The hero number on this page should be read against the median for this calendar day, not against a fixed elevation. That makes today’s reading easier to judge in context: it tells you whether the river is running above or below its usual level for this date at this station.
This station is operated by the U.S. Geological Survey, and it has 19 years on record. The comparison to the daily median is especially useful here because the Delaware can be ordinary in height and still be moving toward either the April high season or the September low season.
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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