WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for River Devon at Woolsthorpe in England, United Kingdom, built from official government gauge data.
River Devon at Woolsthorpe is a gauged river in England.
This station has about 25 years on record, enough to show a clear range but not enough to treat any one reading as typical on its own.
The record high is 1.8 m (5.9 ft), set in January 2024. The record low is 0.37 m (1.23 ft), set in November 2022. That spread matters for banks, pumps, and shallow crossings: the same reach can sit near one end of its range in one season and near the other in another.
The seasonal pattern fits temperate hydrology. January is the highest month on average, at 0.72 m (2.36 ft), while July is the lowest month on average, at 0.55 m (1.81 ft). The typical annual swing is 16.8 cm (6.6 in). For a dock or intake, that is the amount of ordinary up-and-down to expect before any flood or drought event is added on top.
No watershed is given for this page, so the river section has to stay with this reach and its seasonal rhythm.
For people living along the Devon, the useful pattern is simple: winter levels are usually higher, summer levels are usually lower, and the annual range is modest on average even though the record extremes are much wider. That means low-water access can change first in midsummer, while winter calls for more attention to the upper end of the channel and nearby low spots.
The number shown on the page is most useful when it is compared with the median for the same calendar day, not with a raw height taken out of season. A reading that sits above the day’s median tells you the river is running higher than it usually does at this point in the year; a reading below it tells you the opposite.
That is the better fit for a gauge with about 25 years of history. It lets the current level be read against what the River Devon at Woolsthorpe normally does on this date, using the Environment Agency record behind the station.
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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