WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for River Des Peres near University City in MO, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The River Des Peres in the Cahokia-Joachim watershed in Missouri is measured near University City, Missouri.
The station has 29 years on record.
The record high is 8.37 ft (2.55 m) in July 2022. The record low is 3.24 ft (0.99 m) in August 2019. Those two marks show the range this reach can cover in the long record, and they matter for anyone checking banks, crossings, or a low dock.
The seasonal pattern is tight. The highest typical month is April at 3.66 ft (1.12 m), and the lowest typical month is September at 3.53 ft (1.08 m). The typical annual swing is 1.6 in (4.1 cm). That is a small month-to-month shift on the record, so day-to-day changes matter more than the average seasonal drift when you are watching a landing or intake.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed here, so I will not guess at warning time from this station.
This gauge drains 9 sq mi (23.2 km2) upstream of the station. That is the area feeding this reading, not the whole named watershed.
For local users, a small catchment like this can respond quickly to rain, especially when storms are short and hard. The regional note for this part of the Midwest is rainfall-driven flooding in any season, with the fastest changes often in spring. On this water, that means a day with heavy rain can matter more than the calendar month.
The hero number on the page is the current reading set against the median for this calendar day from the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation alone because it tells you whether today is running high or low for this date, not just where the water sits above a datum.
For this site, the reading comes from the USGS. With 29 years on record, that comparison is grounded in a long local history, which is what cottagers, anglers, and flood-watchers need when they decide whether to launch, leave, or wait.
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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