Nith at Friars Carse Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Nith at Friars Carse in Scotland, United Kingdom, built from official government gauge data.
- Location Scotland, United Kingdom
- Primary gauge sepa-133156 (Water Survey of Canada)
About Nith at Friars Carse
Nith at Friars Carse is a gauged river in Scotland.
What the record shows
The station has 50 years on record, so its range is long enough to show both ordinary seasonal movement and the bigger floods and lows that set the reach apart.
The record high is 3.96 m (12.98 ft) in December 2022. For anyone with a riverside access, that is the level this reach has already reached in a wet winter month. The record low is 0.05 m (0.18 ft) in August 1984, which is the opposite end of the same story: summer water can fall to a very low stage here.
The seasonal pattern is clear. January is the highest typical month at 0.98 m (3.23 ft), while July is the lowest typical month at 0.42 m (1.39 ft). The typical annual swing is 56 cm (22 in). For users on the river, that is the usual band the water moves through across the year, not a rare event.
The watershed
The gauge drains 799 km2 (308 sq mi) upstream of this station. That catchment is what feeds the level at Friars Carse, so the reading here responds to rain across that area, not just to weather at the bank.
The regional pattern fits a rain-driven coastal-plain and piedmont river: winter and spring rains do most of the lifting, while long warm-season low-flow stretches are part of the normal cycle. In this setting, January being the typical high month and July the typical low month are the kinds of shifts a dock, intake, or angling plan has to live with.
The December 2022 record high stands out as the sort of winter or storm-season rise that can reset expectations for the reach. The August 1984 record low is the other side of that range, showing how far the river can fall when warm-season flow is thin.
Reading the hero number
The page’s hero number compares today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because a level only makes sense against the season: a reading that is ordinary in January can be high in July, and the median gives that context.
At this site, SEPA is the operating agency behind the station data. With 50 years on record, that day-by-day comparison is grounded in a long local history, which is what makes it useful for daily decisions on the river.
How this page is built
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.
How Nibi Metrics works · Water stories
Nibi Metrics - live water levels, flow, and forecasts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK
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.
What you can see for any monitored lake or river
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.
Alerts that watch the water for you
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.
Where Nibi comes from
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.
Coverage
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.
Free forever, funded by members
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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