Horse Creek at Clearwater Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Horse Creek at Clearwater in SC, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location SC, United States
- Watershed middle savannah
- Primary gauge 02196690 (USGS)
About Horse Creek at Clearwater
Horse Creek at Clearwater is a gauged river in the Middle Savannah watershed, South Carolina.
Season by season
At this station, the seasonal pattern is modest but useful. February is the highest typical month at 11.25 ft (3.43 m), while September is the lowest typical month at 10.4 ft (3.17 m). The typical annual swing is 10.2 in (26 cm), so the creek usually changes enough to matter for shallow edges, small intakes, and access points, but not in a way that rewrites the whole shoreline.
That pattern fits rain-driven coastal-plain and piedmont hydrology: winter and spring rains tend to hold levels up, while long warm-season low-flow stretches can leave the creek running lower for weeks at a time. In practice, that means February-style levels are the ones to watch for higher bank storage and wetter banks, while September often gives the shallowest window of the year.
Records and rises
The record high here is 16.76 ft (5.11 m), set in September 2024. The record low is 9.54 ft (2.91 m), set in January 2013. That span gives a clear sense of how much this gauge can move when a wet event lines up with the right part of the season.
With 21 years on record, the station has enough history to show that tropical-season rain can matter as much as the winter-spring pattern. For people living beside the creek, the record high is the level that tells you what the worst recent water has looked like. For anglers, it is the kind of stage that can push water into places usually left dry and change where fish hold.
Reading the hero number
This page’s hero number is most useful when it is compared with the station’s median for the same calendar day, not with the absolute zero point on the staff. Raw elevation tells you where the water is; the daily median tells you whether it is running high or low for this date at this spot.
The station is run by the USGS, and its record spans more than 21 years. That longer record is what makes the comparison worth using: it puts today’s reading in context for this creek, instead of treating every foot of stage the same no matter the season.
How this page is built
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.
How Nibi Metrics works · Water stories
Nibi Metrics - live water levels, flow, and forecasts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK
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.
What you can see for any monitored lake or river
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.
Alerts that watch the water for you
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.
Where Nibi comes from
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.
Coverage
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.
Free forever, funded by members
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.
Water Stories
Field notes and explainers from the Nibi desk - how to read a staff gauge, what a 100-year flood actually means, how snowpack becomes summer water.
For five years, spring 2019 was the mark every Lake Muskoka decision answered to. In April 2026 the lake went two centimeters higher - and the official books have not caught up yet.
Inside the freshet cycle that puts Manitoba shorelines at risk each year - and why 2026 broke the script.
The science of snow water equivalent and why it drives the season ahead.
What the numbers on the measuring stick actually tell you.
Why Central and South Texas rivers go from gravel beds to fifty-year records in an afternoon - including July 2026 on the Nueces.
One percent, every year, forever - unwrapping hydrology's most misunderstood phrase, and how it differs from our own percentiles.
How every number is computed - About the platform
