Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Powder River near Locate MT in MT, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Powder River in the Lower Powder watershed in Montana is tracked at this USGS station near Locate.
This gauge watches water from 13,060 sq mi (33,825 km2) upstream of the station. That area is what matters for this reading: rain and snowmelt from there can raise the river here, not the whole named watershed beyond the gauge.
For people using the river, the scale of that upstream area is the main warning sign. Changes in weather across that basin can show up at the station as higher water, lower water, or both, depending on the season.
The record high is 10.89 ft (3.32 m) in May 2011. The record low is -0.06 ft (-0.02 m) in September 2012. Those two marks show that this river has reached both a spring peak and a very low late-season level in the station record.
The usual seasonal pattern is more modest. The highest typical month is June at 2.81 ft (0.86 m), and the lowest typical month is September at 0.77 ft (0.23 m). That means the river commonly drops by 24.5 in (62.2 cm) across the annual swing. For dock owners, pump users, and anglers, that is the range the water level has to live within most years.
The record spans 50 years. That is long enough to show that this site can move from a June high to a September low in a normal year, while still leaving room for much larger extremes.
The hero number on this page is best read against the median for this calendar day at the station, not as a raw elevation. A raw level by itself does not tell you whether the river is running high for today, low for today, or near its usual mark.
This station is operated by the USGS, and the record covers 50 years. That history is what makes the daily median useful: it lets you compare today’s reading with the station’s own past, which is the clearest way to judge whether conditions are unusual for this date.
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 23,050 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, the Bureau of Reclamation, 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, the State of Victoria's, the State of South Australia's, the Northern Territory's and the State of Western Australia's water monitoring networks, the French State's hydrometric network (Vigicrues, through Hub'Eau), the German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration's gauges (WSV, through PEGELONLINE), 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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