WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Jemseg River at Jemseg in NB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Jemseg River at Jemseg is a gauged river in the Lower Saint John - Grand Lake watershed in New Brunswick.
The station record runs for more than 60 years, and the extremes are easy to read against that span. The highest level on record is 6.74 m (22.13 ft) in May 2018, while the lowest is 0.61 m (2 ft) in September 1968.
The seasonal pattern is narrower than those extremes but still matters at the bank. May is the highest typical month at 3.15 m (10.32 ft), and September is the lowest typical month at 1.11 m (3.63 ft). That makes for a typical annual swing of 2.04 m (6.7 ft), which is enough to change how far a dock sits above the water and how shallow a landing or intake feels through the year.
For someone watching the river, the record says the range is not subtle. A spring high near May can sit well above the late-summer level, so a mooring line, access ramp, or shoreline setup needs room for that shift.
This gauge drains 2968 km2 (1146 sq mi) upstream of the station. In Atlantic hydrology, spring snowmelt freshet is the main seasonal rise, with ice-jam risk on the major rivers, and fall rain can bring floods. Winter ice cover is part of the calendar here, so the river does not behave the same way in every month.
That watershed size means the station is reading a large upstream response, not just the reach beside the town. For residents and anglers, that is why water at Jemseg can move from low late-summer levels to much higher spring water over the course of the year.
The hero number on the page is most useful when it is compared with the median for the same calendar day across the station record. Raw elevation alone does not say whether today is ordinary for this date or well above it. The median gives that context.
On a river with more than 60 years of records, that daily comparison is the quickest way to tell whether the river is sitting near its usual level for now, or standing outside the run of past years.
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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