WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for River Tees at Barnard Castle in England, United Kingdom, built from official government gauge data.
River Tees at Barnard Castle is a gauged river in England.
The station has 50 years on record, so the range here is not a short sample. The highest level in the file is 1.98 m (6.51 ft) in December 2015. The lowest is 0.3 m (0.99 ft) in May 2022. That spread matters on the bank: what sits safely above a low river day can be much closer to the water when levels climb.
The seasonal pattern is fairly steady. December is the highest typical month at 0.66 m (2.15 ft), while June is the lowest typical month at 0.49 m (1.61 ft). The typical annual swing is 16.3 cm (6.4 in). For a dock, intakes, or a fishing platform, that is the normal up-and-down range to plan for before any standout event arrives.
No watershed name is given for this page, so the useful story here is the reach itself. In temperate hydrology, spring often brings the main lift in level, while summer is usually the lower-water season. At this station, the lowest typical month is June, and the highest typical month is December, so the record follows a cool-season high and a summer low pattern rather than a spring crest.
For people using the river, that means the water can sit low enough in early summer to expose more bank and shallow edges, then rise into the wetter part of the year. The record low in May 2022 and the record high in December 2015 show how far apart the extremes can be.
The number on the page is best read against the median for this calendar day across the station record, not just against the river’s absolute height. A raw level tells you where the water stands now; the median tells you whether today is typical for this date at River Tees at Barnard Castle.
That matters because the Environment Agency’s station record here runs through about 50 years. With that length of history, a small departure from the calendar-day median can be more useful than the absolute number alone for judging whether the river is running low, near normal, or above the usual band for this date.
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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