WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Gilmer Bayou near Shreveport in LA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Gilmer Bayou near Shreveport is a gauged river in the McKinney-Posten Bayous watershed, Louisiana.
At this gauge, the seasonal range is modest on paper but still enough to matter at a dock, bank landing, or low crossing. The typical high month is December at 3.57 ft (1.09 m), while the typical low month is June at 1.98 ft (0.6 m). That gap is a typical annual swing of 19.1 in (48.5 cm), so the reach does not move by many feet each year, but it does move enough to change the edge of shallow water and the amount of exposed bank.
For Gulf lowland waters, the main pattern is water staying up after rainfall and falling slowly. That means a rise can linger, and a low can also take time to settle in. For people who fish or keep gear along the bayou, December is the month to expect the highest ordinary stage, while June is the month to expect the lowest ordinary stage.
The station has 14 years on record, which gives a short but useful window on what this reach has already done. The highest level in that record is 6.63 ft (2.02 m) in November 2018. The lowest level is 1.97 ft (0.6 m) in April 2026.
Those two marks frame the range this bayou has shown so far. A high of 6.63 ft (2.02 m) is the kind of level that can push water well above the usual seasonal band. The low of 1.97 ft (0.6 m) sits close to the June typical level, so the lower end of the record is not far from the ordinary dry-season pattern.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading set against the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation alone because the same level can mean different things in different parts of the year.
Here, the comparison is based on more than 14 years of USGS records at station usgs-07351275. The median for the date shows whether today is near the middle of the usual range for this time of year, rather than just telling you how high the water sits above the datum. For a bayou that can stay high after rain, that seasonal context is the part that helps with planning.
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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