Roanoke River at Jamesville Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Roanoke River at Jamesville in NC, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location NC, United States
- Watershed lower roanoke
- Primary gauge 02081094 (USGS)
About Roanoke River at Jamesville
Roanoke River at Jamesville is a gauged river in the Lower Roanoke watershed, North Carolina.
The watershed
This station drains 9,250 square miles (23,957 km2) above the gauge. That is the area feeding the river at Jamesville, so changes upstream can show up here even when local weather is calm.
The record spans 30 years. In that span, the river reached a record high of 5.83 ft (1.78 m) in September 1999 and a record low of -1.18 ft (-0.36 m) in October 2012. Those two marks bracket the range people using the river need to keep in mind for docks, ramps, and intakes.
What the numbers say
The seasonal pattern is modest compared with the record extremes. The highest typical month is May at 1.86 ft (0.57 m), and the lowest typical month is November at 1.35 ft (0.41 m). The typical annual swing is 6.1 in (15.6 cm).
For day-to-day use, that tells you the river usually moves within a fairly narrow band, but it can still step well outside that band when large storms pass through the basin. In the warm season, lower flows between storms are part of the pattern here, so shallow access and slower current are both things to watch.
Reading the hero number
The number shown on this page compares today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation alone because it puts the river in its usual seasonal setting.
For a gauge with 30 years of record, that context helps separate an ordinary day from one that is running high or low for the date. The measurement is published by the U.S. Geological Survey.
How this page is built
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.
How Nibi Metrics works · Water stories
Nibi Metrics - live water levels, flow, and forecasts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK
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.
What you can see for any monitored lake or river
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.
Alerts that watch the water for you
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.
Where Nibi comes from
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.
Coverage
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.
Free forever, funded by members
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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How every number is computed - About the platform
