WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Greens Bayou near Houston in TX, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Greens Bayou in the Buffalo-San Jacinto watershed sits in TX.
On this river, the usual year is a narrow one: July is the highest typical month at 39.89 ft (12.16 m), and March is the lowest at 39.22 ft (11.95 m). That typical annual swing is 8.1 in (20.5 cm), so the day-to-day background level is small compared with the jumps that come with heavy rain.
For someone watching a dock, culvert, or bank, that means the seasonal cycle is not the main issue. The larger concern is the regional flash-flood pattern: rises can come in hours, then the river can spend long stretches low between events. In hurricane season, a single rain event can change the record quickly.
The record high is 67.05 ft (20.44 m), reached in June 2001. The record low is 38.59 ft (11.76 m), reached in December 2012.
Those two marks bracket a wide range for a waterway with a fairly tight seasonal swing. For residents and anglers, that is the useful contrast: the ordinary month-to-month change is small, but flood response is not. I do not have a fastest 24-hour rise to report here, so the record can only be read from the highs and lows on file.
This USGS station has more than 50 years on record. The hero number on the page is most useful when you compare today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station record, not with raw elevation by itself. A single level can look ordinary or unusual depending on the season; the day-of-year median shows whether the river is running above, below, or near its usual state for now.
For Greens Bayou near Houston, that comparison matters because the river can move fast after rain. The current reading tells you where the water is right now; the calendar-day median tells you how far it has shifted from the normal pattern for this date.
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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