WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Paint Rock River near Woodville AL in AL, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Paint Rock River in the Wheeler Lake watershed, Alabama.
Winter and spring are the main high-water seasons here, and that fits a rain-driven Gulf South pattern. The river is usually highest in March, at 5.78 ft (1.76 m). By September, the typical level drops to 2.19 ft (0.67 m). That seasonal range is 3.6 ft (1.1 m), which is the spread a dock, bank access, or shallow intake has to live with over a normal year.
For anyone fishing or keeping gear near the water, that means the river can sit fairly low through the warm season, then come up again with wetter weather. The numbers on this page are about the station, not the whole watershed, so they describe what the gauge has seen at this spot.
The record high at this station is 22.94 ft (6.99 m), reached in December 1990. The record low is 0 ft (0 m), reached in February 1981. Those two marks show how far this river can move at the gauge when conditions line up for a big rise or a very low stage.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed in the facts here, so I will not add one. If you are watching the river for access or flood timing, the record high is the number that matters most for the upper edge of what this site has actually seen.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading at the USGS station, set against the median reading for this calendar day across the station record. That comparison is more useful than raw elevation alone, because a stage of the same height can mean different things in different months.
With more than 50 years on record, the station has enough history to show what is normal for this date and what is not. For a neighbour, that tells you whether the river is running near its usual level for the day, or sitting above or below that benchmark.
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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