WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Rainy River at Point Park Site No.1 in ON, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Rainy River at Point Park Site No.1 is a gauged river in the Lower Rainy watershed, Ontario.
The pattern here fits a snowmelt-driven river. The typical low point comes in March at 336.87 m (1105.2 ft), then levels rise into spring and hold a higher band through summer. The typical high month is August, at 337.52 m (1107.36 ft), so by late summer the river is usually above its March level. The typical annual swing is 65.8 cm (25.9 in), which is a modest but real change for docks, lifts, and any intake set close to the waterline.
This station has 15 years on record, enough to show the range this reach has already put down.
The record high is 338.94 m (1112 ft) in June 2022. The record low is 336.59 m (1104.3 ft) in May 2025. Those two marks sit only a little over two metres apart, which tells you the river can move outside its usual seasonal band and still stay within a fairly narrow absolute range.
The station’s drainage area above the gauge is 38,200 km2 (14,749 sq mi). That is the upstream area feeding this reading, so changes you see here reflect a large piece of the basin rather than just the immediate bank.
The hero number on this page compares today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station’s record. That is the better number for day-to-day use because it shows whether the river is running above or below its usual level for this date, not just where the water sits on the staff. For a river with 15 years of history, that context is what matters most when you are judging access, storage, or low-water conditions.
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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