WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Merrimack R near Goffs Falls, below Manchester in NH, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Merrimack River near Goffs Falls, below Manchester sits in the Winnipesaukee River watershed in New Hampshire.
This station drains 3,092 sq mi (8,008 km2) above the gauge, so the reading here reflects a large upstream area rather than one reach alone. For people watching docks, banks, or intakes, that means changes can collect from far upstream before they show up at this point.
The record high is 11.12 ft (3.39 m) in March 2010, and the record low is 2.07 ft (0.63 m) in October 2025. The typical high-water month is April at 6.86 ft (2.09 m), while the typical low-water month is September at 3.43 ft (1.04 m). That gives a typical annual swing of 3.4 ft (1.05 m), which is the band a dock, pump intake, or shallow landing has to live with.
The seasonal pattern fits New England river timing: higher water in spring, lower water in late summer and early fall. The largest flood in the record landed in March 2010, and the lowest reading in the record came in October 2025. Those are the kinds of numbers that matter for access, bank exposure, and low-water constraints.
This page’s hero number is today’s reading set against the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is better than raw elevation because the same level can mean very different things in April and September.
With 50 years on record, the USGS baseline here is long enough to show where today sits against this station’s own history, not just against a fixed stage.
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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