Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for James River at Buchanan in VA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The James River at Buchanan is in the Upper James watershed in Virginia.
The station record runs for more than 50 years, and the high and low tell a wide range of conditions on this reach. The record high is 19.86 ft (6.05 m) in February 2025. The record low is 1.89 ft (0.58 m) in November 2008.
The seasonal pattern is clear enough for planning. April is the usual high-water month at 4.51 ft (1.38 m), while September is the usual low-water month at 2.33 ft (0.71 m). That typical annual swing is 26.2 in (66.6 cm), which is the space a dock, pump intake, or boat landing has to live with from one part of the year to another.
For people using the river, that means spring is the time to watch water levels closely, and late summer is the time when shallow spots and intake limits matter most.
The gauge sits on the James River with 2,073 sq mi (5,369 km2) draining to it above the station. That is the upstream area feeding this site, not the whole watershed on a map.
In this part of Virginia, river levels usually rise with rain in winter and spring, and short low-flow periods can show up in summer. The record also shows that large rises can arrive outside the usual season.
The number on the page is best read against the median for the same calendar day, not as a raw elevation by itself. A river stage by itself tells you where the water stands; the calendar-day median tells you whether today is running high or low for this station’s own record.
This gauge is a USGS station, and that local comparison is what matters for anglers checking access, cottagers watching shorelines, and anyone deciding whether the river is behaving normally for the 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 in a growing number of countries. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 19,410 gauged lakes and rivers in a growing number of countries, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, the Environment Agency for England, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales, the Office of Public Works in Ireland (waterlevel.ie), the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), the State of Queensland's, the State of Victoria's, the State of South Australia's, the Northern Territory's and the State of Western Australia's water monitoring networks, the French State's hydrometric network (Vigicrues, through Hub'Eau), the German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration's gauges (WSV, through PEGELONLINE), and on the Great Lakes the Canadian Hydrographic Service and NOAA. 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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