WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for North Canal near Vero Beach in FL, United States, built from official government gauge data.
North Canal near Vero Beach sits in the Vero Beach watershed in Florida.
This station’s seasonal pattern is narrow but clear. The typical high point comes in October at 2.92 ft (0.89 m), and the typical low point comes in May at 2.34 ft (0.71 m). That is a 7 in (17.8 cm) annual swing.
For someone keeping a dock, culvert, or intake in service, that range is modest on paper but still worth watching because small changes matter when water is shallow. The October high sits above the May low, so late-season water is usually the higher part of the year at this gauge.
The record high is 11.38 ft (3.47 m) in August 2008. The record low is 0.96 ft (0.29 m) in October 1996.
Those two marks show the span this station has seen over 50 years of record. The high end is the one that matters for overflow, access, and water standing where it is normally not expected. The low end matters for pumps, shallow drafts, and any use that depends on a minimum depth.
No fastest 24-hour rise is available in the facts here, so I will not guess at the warning time this water gives during a storm cycle.
The hero number on this page is best read against the median for this calendar day at the station, not as a raw level by itself. A single height means less than whether today sits above or below the normal mark for the same date.
That comparison is the useful one for daily decisions on a canal like this. It tells you whether the water is running high or low for the season right now, using the station’s own history from the USGS and roughly 50 years of record.
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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