WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Marsh River near Otterburne in MB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Marsh River near Otterburne is in the Rat and Tourond watershed in Manitoba.
This station has more than 54 years on record. The record high is 235.87 m (773.85 ft), set in April 2009, and the record low is 230.87 m (757.43 ft), set in March 2012. That spread is 75.3 cm (29.6 in), which is the kind of swing a dock, pump intake, or low bank crossing has to handle over time.
The seasonal pattern is modest but clear. The highest typical month is November at 232.39 m (762.44 ft), while the lowest typical month is August at 231.64 m (759.97 ft). For people using the river, that means late-fall levels tend to sit above late-summer levels, with summer bringing the lower water period.
The gauge drains 403 km2 (156 sq mi) upstream of the station. That is the area feeding this reading, not the whole watershed. In prairie hydrology, spring snowmelt is often the main flood season, while summer recession is common after the freshet. On this river, the record speaks more to how much the water can move through the year than to any single day.
The nearby stations in the same basin suggest a network with similar day-to-day concerns: access, culvert flow, field drainage, and low-water limits for shallow crossings. For cottagers and anglers, the main question is usually not just how high the water is today, but how far it can shift from one part of the season to the next.
The hero number on this page is best read against the median for this calendar day across the station record, not as a stand-alone elevation. That comparison shows whether the river is running above or below its usual level for the same date, which is more useful than a raw height in isolation.
The operating agency is Water Survey of Canada. With more than 54 years on record, the station gives a solid baseline for judging whether today’s reading is ordinary for the date or outside the usual range.
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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