WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Rock Creek above Fort Carson Reservation in CO, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Rock Creek above Fort Carson Reservation is in the Fountain watershed in Colorado.
The station has 48 years on record. The highest reading in the file is 3.09 ft (0.94 m) in June 2023, and the lowest is 1.14 ft (0.35 m) in October 2024. For someone watching a crossing or a bank, that spread is the difference between a reach running near its upper edge and one sitting much lower in the same gauge record.
Seasonally, the highest typical month is May at 1.69 ft (0.52 m), while the lowest typical month is October at 1.37 ft (0.42 m). The typical annual swing is 3.9 in (9.8 cm). That is a modest range on paper, but it still matters for small intakes, shallow riffles, and the edge of a crossing.
The regional pattern here is a snowmelt-dominated one: high-elevation snowpack drives a pronounced May-June peak, with long low-flow winters.
The drainage area above this station is 6.8 sq mi (17.5 km2). That is the area feeding this gauge, not the whole watershed name.
For local use, that small upstream area means the river can respond to what falls in the basin above the station, while the long low-flow season leaves less water in the channel to absorb added demand. In summer, the regional note points to sharp rises from thunderstorms; on a small catchment, those can matter fast at low-water crossings and in side channels.
The number shown on this page is best read against the median for this calendar day, not as a raw elevation. A day-of-year comparison tells you whether the river is running high or low for this season, which is what matters for access, habitat, and short-term change.
For this station, the operator is the USGS. With 48 years on record, the calendar-day median has enough history behind it to give context that a single stage value cannot.
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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