WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for N Bosque River at Hico in TX, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The N Bosque River in the North Bosque watershed in Texas is monitored at Hico.
The pattern here is simple enough for a dock or bank-side intake: May is the typical high-water month at 5.28 ft (1.61 m), and August is the typical low-water month at 4.76 ft (1.45 m). That seasonal swing is 6.3 in (15.9 cm), so the river’s usual range over a year is modest compared with the larger jumps that can come with rainfall events.
For people watching for access, the useful point is timing. Spring tends to bring the higher stage on this station’s record, while late summer is where the lower stages tend to show up. Between storms, long low-flow stretches are part of the picture.
The record high is 18.49 ft (5.64 m) in May 2015. The record low is 0 ft (0 m) in August 1999.
Those two numbers show the spread this station can carry. If you live or fish here, the record high is the level to keep in mind for bank storage, access, and high-water setback, while the record low marks the edge of very shallow conditions. In flash-flood country, the main watch item is how fast rainfall can change the stage; this station’s fastest 24-hour rise is not available in the facts provided, so I won’t guess at it.
The hero number on this page is most useful when you read it against the median for this calendar day, not as a raw stage by itself. A stage can look ordinary or high depending on the season, and the day-of-year median gives that context.
This station is a USGS site, and it has more than 50 years of record. That length of record makes the comparison steadier for local use, especially when you want to know whether today sits near the usual range for Hico or toward the edges that matter for crossings, banks, and intakes.
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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