WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for River Sence at South Wigston in England, United Kingdom, built from official government gauge data.
River Sence at South Wigston is a gauged river in England.
January is the highest typical month here, with a level of 0.82 m (2.7 ft). May is the lowest typical month at 0.67 m (2.19 ft). That is a modest seasonal spread, but it still matters for anyone taking water from the river, watching a bank, or judging how much room a channel has left after a wet spell.
The typical annual swing is 15.5 cm (6.1 in), so day-to-day change is not the whole story; the broader seasonal pattern sets the baseline. In temperate rivers, that usually means a spring rise and lower water later in the warm season, with local weather deciding how sharply those shifts appear.
The highest level in the record is 2.89 m (9.47 ft) in January 2024. The lowest is 0.22 m (0.71 ft) in August 2022. Those two ends of the record show how far this reach can move in opposite directions, and they are the numbers to keep in mind when you are thinking about access, bank margins, or how quickly conditions can change after rain.
With 50 years on record, this station has enough history to show that both high water and low water have reached far beyond the seasonal middle ground.
The hero number on this page should be read against the median for this calendar day, not as a raw height by itself. A single level only tells you where the water stands now; the median tells you whether that reading is normal for this point in the year.
That comparison is useful on the River Sence because the seasonal range is real, but not extreme. The Environment Agency operates this station, and the 50-year record gives the daily median enough context to be useful for people planning around the river today.
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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