South Fork Little River at Highway 68-80 near Hopkinsville Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for South Fork Little River at Highway 68-80 near Hopkinsville in KY, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Water body S FK LITTLE RIVER AT HWY 68-80 NR HOPKINSVILLE
- Location KY, United States
- Watershed lower cumberland
- Primary gauge 03437480 (USGS)
About South Fork Little River at Highway 68-80 near Hopkinsville
South Fork Little River in the Lower Cumberland watershed, Kentucky.
What the record shows
This station has 17 years on record. The high mark is 12.72 ft (3.88 m), set in April 2025. The low mark is 3.92 ft (1.19 m), set in September 2022.
The seasonal pattern is modest but steady: the highest typical month is February at 5.3 ft (1.62 m), and the lowest typical month is September at 4.45 ft (1.36 m). That typical annual swing is 10.2 in (25.8 cm), which is the range a dock, pump, or shallow intake has to live with through the year.
For someone watching this river, the record range matters more than a single calm reading. A level near the April 2025 high is a very different river from the September 2022 low, even before you look at rainfall.
The watershed
The station drains 18.8 sq mi (48.6 km2) upstream of the gauge. In this part of Kentucky, runoff can respond quickly when rain falls on wet ground, and the sharpest rises are usually in winter and spring. That is the season when operators, landowners, and anglers tend to pay closest attention.
Because the catchment is small, conditions can change fast between one reading and the next. For anyone with a low crossing, a bank access point, or a shallow water intake nearby, the useful question is not just where the water stands now, but how much room it has to move before it reaches the recent high or low end of the record.
Reading the hero number
This page’s hero number is today’s reading, set against the median for this calendar day across the station record. That comparison is better than raw elevation because it tells you whether the river is running typical for this date, not just whether it is above sea level. A level can look ordinary on its own and still be high for the season, or low for the season.
This station is operated by the USGS, and the record spans more than 17 years.
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
