WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
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Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Queen Creek below Whitlow Dam near Superior, AZ. in AZ, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Queen Creek in the Middle Gila watershed, Arizona, is tracked at a USGS station below Whitlow Dam near Superior.
The gauge drains 144 sq mi (373 km2) upstream of the station, so the numbers here describe water reaching this point, not the whole Middle Gila. For people watching a crossing, a pasture intake, or a channel reach, that upstream area is the part that matters.
This station has 19 years on record. The highest level in that record was 6.37 ft (1.94 m) in January 2008. The lowest was 0.38 ft (0.12 m) in October 2007. Those two points show how wide the range can be at this site.
The typical seasonal pattern is small but clear. The highest month is March at 1.05 ft (0.32 m), and the lowest month is September at 0.96 ft (0.29 m). The typical annual swing is 1 in (2.6 cm).
That is a narrow normal range, but the record extremes are much farther apart than the seasonal median. For a dock, crossing, or bank access point, the day-to-day worry is less about the usual seasonal shift and more about whether the creek jumps outside its normal band.
This record does not include a fastest 24-hour rise, so I cannot say how much warning this water gives from the available facts.
The hero reading on a station page is best judged against the median for the same calendar day, not against the absolute water level. A raw elevation by itself tells you little unless you know what is normal for that date at this gauge.
At this site, the operating agency is the USGS. With 19 years on record, the day-median comparison is the cleanest way to tell whether Queen Creek is running above, near, or below its usual condition for this time of year.
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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