WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for New River at Glen Lyn in VA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The New River at Glen Lyn sits in the Middle New watershed in Virginia.
The station record runs for 50 years, and the range is wide enough to matter at the dock, the intake, and the bank.
The highest level in the record is 21.49 ft (6.55 m), reached in September 2024. The lowest is 2.22 ft (0.68 m), reached in August 2008. That spread tells you this reach can move from low water to a much higher stage within the same long record.
Seasonally, the typical high point comes in March at 4.76 ft (1.45 m), while the typical low point comes in September at 3.33 ft (1.02 m). The usual annual swing is 17.1 in (43.4 cm). For a river user, that means spring generally asks for extra clearance and late-summer generally asks for more attention to shallow water.
This gauge drains 3770 sq mi (9764 km2) upstream of the station. That is the area feeding this reading, not the watershed as a whole beyond the gauge.
For this part of Virginia, the seasonal pattern fits rain-driven Appalachian and piedmont hydrology: winter and spring rain floods dominate, and brief summer low flows are part of the pattern. The record also shows that a late-summer high can happen here, with the highest level landing in September 2024.
The hero number on the page is the live stage for this USGS station, read against the median for the same calendar day across the record. That comparison is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether today is ordinary for this date, high for the season, or low for the season.
With 50 years of record, the station has enough history to make that day-by-day comparison meaningful for cottagers, anglers, and anyone watching access or bank conditions.
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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