WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Maline Creek at Bellefontaine Neighbors in MO, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Maline Creek is in the Cahokia-Joachim watershed in Missouri.
The station drains 24.4 sq mi (63.2 km2) above the gauge, so the reading reflects what has fallen into that upstream area, not the whole Cahokia-Joachim watershed. For people watching driveways, culverts, or a small bridge, that upstream area is the part that matters.
This is a USGS site with 48 years on record. That kind of span gives a useful picture of how quickly the creek can shift from ordinary levels to trouble after rain.
The record high is 19.9 ft (6.07 m), set in June 2019. The record low is 1.94 ft (0.59 m), set in September 2011. That is a wide spread for a small creek, and it is the range a dock, crossing, or intake has to live with over time.
Seasonally, the highest typical month is May at 2.47 ft (0.75 m), and the lowest typical month is September at 2.22 ft (0.68 m). The typical annual swing is 2.9 in (7.4 cm). That tells you the creek usually changes by a modest amount through the year, even though storm peaks can be much larger than the seasonal pattern.
The regional note for this part of Missouri is simple: flooding can happen in any season, and spring is often the fastest season for rising water. Some streams here are also supported by karst springs, which can hold up baseflow.
The hero number on this page is best read against the median for this calendar day, not as a stand-alone elevation. A raw stage value only says where the water sits right now; the calendar-day median says whether today is ordinary for this date at this station.
That comparison is especially useful at a USGS gauge with more than 48 years on record, because it places the current reading in the local history of the creek instead of asking you to judge a number on its own.
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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