WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Rolling Fork near Lebanon Junction in KY, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Rolling Fork is a gauged river in Kentucky's Rolling Fork watershed.
This station is on the Rolling Fork upstream from an area of 1,375 sq mi (3,561 km2). The record here runs for 37 years, so the pattern is long enough to separate one-off floods from the usual seasonal range.
For this part of Kentucky, the main flood season is tied to rain falling on already wet ground, with the sharpest rises often in winter and spring. On this gauge, the seasonal range is narrow in the record but still worth watching. February is the highest typical month at 22.45 ft (6.84 m), while November is the lowest typical month at 22.37 ft (6.82 m). The typical annual swing is 1 in (2.6 cm), so day-to-day levels often stay close unless a storm pushes them out of that band.
The record high is 67.02 ft (20.43 m) in March 1997. That is the kind of crest that changes access, banks, and low crossings fast.
The record low is 5.24 ft (1.6 m) in October 2023. Low water like that matters for intake depth, boat use, and any stretch of channel that depends on steady cover.
The contrast between the record high and record low is large, even though the usual seasonal swing is small. For a river like this, that means normal days can look steady right up until a storm drives the level outside its ordinary band.
The hero number on this page is most useful when it is set against the median for this calendar day, not just the raw elevation. A raw level tells you where the water is right now; the day-of-year median tells you whether this reading is ordinary for the season or a step outside the usual pattern.
That matters on the Rolling Fork because the gauge has more than 37 years of record behind it. With that history, the current reading can be read in context: how it compares with the station’s typical level for this date, and how much room there is before it begins to resemble the higher water that has shown up in the past.
Data on this station are from the USGS.
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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