WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Paw CR at Wilkinson Blvd near Charlotte in NC, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Paw Creek at Wilkinson Blvd near Charlotte sits in the Upper Catawba watershed, North Carolina.
This creek’s usual high water arrives in March at 1.71 ft (0.52 m), and its usual low point is in July at 1.48 ft (0.45 m). That 2.7 in (6.9 cm) annual swing is modest, so day-to-day stage changes matter more than the seasonal range for docks, bank access, and small intakes.
The regional pattern here is rain-driven: winter and spring rains tend to set the annual peaks, while warm-season low flows often arrive between storms. On this station, that means the water can sit near its lower seasonal band for long stretches, then respond quickly when runoff arrives.
The record high is 6.9 ft (2.1 m), set in April 2003. The record low is 0.04 ft (0.01 m), set in September 1999.
Those two marks show how much room this site has to move within the same channel. For anyone tracking access, pumping, or bank exposure, the gap between seasonal water and record water is the part to watch. The station has 32 years on record, so these extremes come from a fairly useful local history.
No fastest 24-hour rise is available in the facts here, so I am not adding one.
The hero number on this page is today's USGS reading compared with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because the same stage can mean very different things in March, July, or after a storm.
USGS is the operating agency for this station, and the record spans 32 years. Comparing today to the day-of-year median shows whether the creek is running above its usual level for this date, below it, or close to the middle of its local history.
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.
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