WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
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Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for North Gila Main Canal near Yuma in AZ, United States, built from official government gauge data.
North Gila Main Canal near Yuma is in the Lower Colorado watershed, Arizona.
The station has more than 50 years of record, so the pattern here is worth paying attention to. The high-water mark is 3.57 ft (1.09 m) in June 2022, and the low-water mark is 1.13 ft (0.34 m) in January 2010. That spread matters for anyone taking water from the canal or working near the banks: the canal has shown enough range to change freeboard, intake submergence, and how close the water sits to a fixed crossing or bank edge.
The seasonal pattern is fairly small but still useful. The typical high point comes in May at 2.7 ft (0.82 m), while the typical low point comes in January at 1.94 ft (0.59 m). The typical annual swing is 9.1 in (23.2 cm). In practice, that means the canal usually shifts by less than a foot over the year, but the record extremes sit well outside the usual range.
This station sits in the Lower Colorado watershed in Arizona, in the dry Southwest where runoff can change fast after storms. In this setting, summer thunderstorm bursts can push water up quickly, while winter storms and mountain snowmelt feed the larger river system. Some channels in the region run dry between events, so a canal or river gauge can move from quiet to sharp change with little warning. For local users, that is the main thing to watch: not just the average level, but how quickly a storm response can arrive and how long the channel stays elevated afterward.
Today’s reading is best read against the median for this calendar day at the USGS station, not against the raw elevation alone. Elevation by itself tells you where the water surface sits; the day-of-year median tells you whether the canal is running high or low for this point in the season.
That matters here because seasonal position can be more useful than a single absolute value. A reading near the calendar-day median suggests the canal is behaving close to its usual pattern for this date. A reading well above or below that median is the useful signal for operations, access, and anything floating or fixed in the water. The station is operated by the U.S. Geological Survey, and the record spans more than 50 years.
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 in a growing number of countries. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 17,900 gauged lakes and rivers in a growing number of countries, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, the Environment Agency for England, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales, the Office of Public Works in Ireland (waterlevel.ie), the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), the State of Queensland's water monitoring network, and on the Great Lakes the Canadian Hydrographic Service and NOAA. 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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