WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
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Live lake level, flow, historical records and forecast for Pedernales River Near Fredericksburg in TX, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Pedernales River in the Pedernales watershed, Texas, is monitored at Fredericksburg.
The seasonal pattern is narrow: the typical high month is March at 5.31 ft (1.62 m), and the typical low month is August at 4.74 ft (1.45 m). That is a typical annual swing of 6.9 in (17.4 cm), so day-to-day changes are usually modest compared with the bigger jumps that can come with storm runoff in this part of Texas.
For a dock, intake, or fishing spot, that means the river usually sits in a fairly tight band through the year. The main shifts to watch are the short-lived rises that follow rainfall, not a slow seasonal climb.
The record high is 16.93 ft (5.16 m), set in May 2007. The record low is 3.16 ft (0.96 m), set in September 2000. That range tells you this river can move far outside its usual seasonal band when the weather pattern turns wet or dry.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed here, so the page cannot give a specific warning window from that metric. Even so, the local hydrology note matters: rainfall-driven rises can happen in hours, and long low-flow stretches can separate them. For anyone watching access, crossings, or bank conditions, that is the kind of river where a forecast can matter more than the current look.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading set against the median for this calendar day across the full station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because the same level can mean something different in March than in August.
This station is run by the USGS, and the record spans more than 47 years. On this river, the calendar-day median is the better reference for whether today sits near the usual band, above it, or below it.
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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