WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Red River near Gainesville in OK, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Red River near Gainesville is in the Farmers-Mud watershed in Oklahoma.
This USGS station sits on the Red River near Gainesville, with 30,728 square miles (79,585 km2) upstream of the gauge. That is the drainage area feeding this reading, not the watershed as a whole.
For people watching water levels, the big number here is not the river’s name but the amount of land that can send water to the station. On a river with this much upstream area, changes can stack up quickly when storms cover a broad reach.
This station has 50 years on record.
The record high is 41.28 ft (12.58 m), set in June 2015. The record low is 4.6 ft (1.4 m), set in April 2026. Those two marks show the range this gauge has already seen, and they matter for docks, pumps, and any intake set close to the water surface.
Seasonally, the highest typical month is June at 9.72 ft (2.96 m), while the lowest typical month is September at 7.81 ft (2.38 m). The typical annual swing is 23 in (58.3 cm). That is the range a shoreline setup has to handle through the year.
In this part of the country, spring is the main storm season, and this river can also react fast to convective storms. The daily pattern here is less about a slow, even drift and more about watching for quick changes after rain.
The hero number on this page is best read against the median for this calendar day across the station record, not as a raw elevation by itself. A level that is high for today may still be ordinary in a wet month, and a lower number may still sit within the usual seasonal range.
This station is operated by the USGS, and the record spans about 50 years. That long record is what gives today’s reading its context.
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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