WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Gold Creek near Frank in AB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Gold Creek near Frank is in the Upper Oldman watershed in Alberta.
This station tracks the creek at Frank, and the gauge reads conditions from the 63.3 km2 (24.4 sq mi) catchment above the station, not the full watershed.
For this part of Alberta, the seasonal pattern is familiar: mountain snowmelt tends to set the late-spring peak, and summer storms can still move water quickly. On this gauge, the highest typical month is May at 1.21 m (3.96 ft), while the lowest typical month is March at 1.08 m (3.55 ft). That is a modest annual swing of 12.4 cm (4.9 in), but even small changes matter for low banks, intakes, and shallow crossings.
The record high is 1.73 m (5.69 ft), reached in June 2014. The record low is 1.04 m (3.41 ft), reached in April 2012.
Those two marks show the range this creek has already put on the gauge over 49 years of record. For someone living or fishing here, the useful point is not just where the water stands on one day, but how far it can move through the season and from year to year. The creek usually sits within a fairly tight band, yet the record values show that the bankfull margin can disappear quickly in a wet year, and shallow sections can tighten up in late winter and early spring.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading set against the median for this calendar day across the station record. That comparison is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether Gold Creek is running typical for this date, above its usual range, or below it.
With 49 years on record, the day-to-day median gives local context that a single stage value cannot. It helps people judge whether the creek is behaving like midseason, running high for the time of year, or sitting low enough to affect access, angling, or water use.
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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