James River near Yankton Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for James River near Yankton in SD, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location SD, United States
- Watershed lower james 0011
- Primary gauge 06478513 (USGS)
About James River near Yankton
The James River near Yankton is in the Lower James watershed in South Dakota.
Season by season
Spring is the season to watch on this river. Prairie runoff often comes quickly in that period, and the channel can stay on a long recession after the first surge passes.
By midsummer, the usual level is higher than the late-fall low. The typical high month is July at 5.96 ft (1.82 m), while the typical low month is November at 3.7 ft (1.13 m). That typical annual swing is 27.1 in (68.9 cm), which is the range a dock, pump intake, or bank access has to handle in an ordinary year.
For people using the river, that seasonal pattern says two things: summer water is often steadier than spring, but the low side still matters for intakes, launches, and shallow reaches. The monthly pattern is the baseline; the record years show how far it can move beyond that.
Records and rises
The record high is 22.57 ft (6.88 m) in September 2019. The record low is 1.73 ft (0.53 m) in March 2026.
With 45 years on record, those two marks bracket a wide range for this station. The high end tells you how much floodplain water can back into the channel. The low end tells you how little margin there can be for shallow crossings, pumps, and fish habitat connected to the edge of the flow.
There is no fastest 24-hour rise value in the facts provided, so I will not guess at warning time here.
Reading the hero number
This page’s hero number should be read against the median for the same calendar day, not as a stand-alone elevation. A river stage by itself only says how high the water sits today; the calendar-day median says whether today is ordinary for this date at this station.
That matters here because USGS has more than 45 years of record on the station. The comparison to the daily median puts today’s reading in local context for the Lower James, which is more useful for flood watching, boating, and intake planning than a raw height alone.
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
