WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Rose Creek near Alder Flats in AB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Rose Creek near Alder Flats sits in the Upper North Saskatchewan - Wabamun watershed in Alberta.
The station has 53 years on record, which gives a workable view of how this creek behaves from year to year.
The record high is 4.51 m (14.81 ft), set in August 2016. The record low is 1.23 m (4.04 ft), set in August 2021. That spread matters on a creek like this: conditions can move from low-water limits to very high water within the same season.
The seasonal pattern is fairly tight. The typical high month is April at 1.68 m (5.52 ft), while the typical low month is August at 1.35 m (4.44 ft). The typical annual swing is 32.9 cm (13 in). For people with intakes, a dock, or a crossing nearby, that is a modest average range, but the record extremes show the creek can move well beyond its usual band.
The fastest 24-hour rise is 2.41 m (7.9 ft), also in August 2016. That is the kind of change that shortens warning time for anyone watching the bank, the channel edge, or low infrastructure.
This station drains 547 km2 (211 sq mi) upstream of the gauge. That is the area feeding the reading here, not the full named watershed.
The regional pattern fits foothills and prairie hydrology: mountain snowmelt usually drives late-spring peaks, and summer convective storms can produce sharp rises. On this creek, the record and the seasonal shape both show that summer is not automatically low and calm; August has held both the record low and the record high.
The hero number on this page should be read against the median for this calendar day at this station, not against a raw elevation number. That comparison tells you whether the creek is running above or below its usual level for today, which is more useful for a landing, culvert, or bank than the absolute height alone.
With 53 years on record, the Water Survey of Canada station history gives that daily context enough depth to be meaningful.
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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