WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Pequannock River at Oak Ridge NJ in NJ, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Pequannock River sits in the Hackensack-Passaic watershed in New Jersey.
The record range at this station runs from 7.89 ft (2.4 m) in March 2011 down to 2.75 ft (0.84 m) in December 2010. That spread is the best quick check on how far the river can move beyond its usual band.
The seasonal pattern is modest but real. April is the typical high month at 4.69 ft (1.43 m), while December is the typical low month at 4.11 ft (1.25 m). The usual difference between those two is 7 in (17.7 cm), which is the kind of swing a dock, pump intake, or shallow crossing has to live with.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed here, so I would not use this page to judge short-notice flood warning time.
This gauge drains 27.4 sq mi (71 km2) above the station, so the reading reflects runoff from a fairly small upstream area. That matters to anyone watching for quick changes after rain: a smaller catchment can respond fast to a wet day, then settle back just as quickly.
For this part of New Jersey, the seasonal note fits a winter-spring rain pattern, with the larger events often tied to tropical systems or their remnants, and summer low flows. On this river, the record month and the typical high month both point to that general rhythm, but the station record still has its own details.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading compared with the median for the same calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether the river is running typical for this date, or sitting above or below its usual place in the annual cycle.
This station has more than 16 years on record, and the data come from the USGS. For day-to-day use, that context is better than a single height number: it shows whether the river is behaving like a normal April river, a December river, or something outside the usual range.
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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