Little Cahaba River below Leeds, AL. Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Little Cahaba River below Leeds, AL. in AL, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location AL, United States
- Watershed cahaba
- Primary gauge 02423397 (USGS)
About Little Cahaba River below Leeds, AL.
The Little Cahaba River below Leeds sits in the Cahaba watershed in Alabama.
What the record shows
This USGS station has more than 31 years of record.
The highest stage in the file is 9.07 ft (2.77 m) in April 2000. The lowest is 0.9 ft (0.27 m) in November 2008. For anyone watching a dock, intake, or bank edge, that span tells you the river can move a long way between quiet water and a much higher stage.
The seasonal pattern is clear in the monthly medians. March is the highest month at 1.77 ft (0.54 m), while September is the lowest month at 1.22 ft (0.37 m). The typical annual swing is 6.7 in (16.9 cm). That is the background range people here should expect even before storm runoff enters the picture.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed in the facts, so there is nothing specific to add on short-warning jumps.
The watershed
The drainage area above this station is 17 sq mi (44 km2). That is the land feeding this gauge, not the whole Cahaba watershed.
For local users, that small upstream area means the reading you see here is tied closely to rain falling in the part of the basin above Leeds. In a rain-driven system, stages can change quickly when storms pass, and the low-water season can leave shallow margins around banks, crossings, and pump intakes.
Reading the hero number
The hero number on this page is best read against the median for the same calendar day, not as a raw elevation by itself. A stage that looks ordinary on one day may be high or low for that date, and the daily median shows where the river usually sits in its own record.
This station is operated by the USGS, and the comparison is based on more than 31 years of measurements. That long record is what makes the current reading useful for day-to-day decisions: it tells you whether the river is sitting near its usual level for this date, or whether it is running above or below the pattern that has developed at this site over time.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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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