WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Saddle River below Hohokus Brook at Paramus NJ in NJ, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Saddle River below Hohokus Brook at Paramus NJ is in the Hackensack-Passaic watershed in New Jersey.
This station drains 43.3 sq mi (112 km2) upstream of the gauge, so local rain shows up quickly here.
The seasonal pattern is modest but clear. March is the highest typical month at 2.03 ft (0.62 m), while September is the lowest typical month at 1.63 ft (0.5 m). That 4.7 in (12 cm) annual swing is the range a dock, bank, or intake has to live with through the year.
In this part of the Mid-Atlantic, winter and spring rain floods are the main high-water season. Summer is the low-flow season, and tropical systems or their remnants can bring the most extreme events.
The record high on this station is 4.76 ft (1.45 m), reached in December 2023. The record low is 1.47 ft (0.45 m), reached in September 2015.
Those two marks matter because they show the spread this river can cover at one point on the gauge. The seasonal high in March sits much closer to the middle of the record range than to the December 2023 peak, so a wet month can still leave room for a sharp rise. The September 2015 low matches the seasonal low month, which is a useful reminder for late-summer water users.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed in the facts for this station.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading compared with the median for this calendar day across the station’s record. That is more useful than raw elevation because the same height means something different in March than it does in September.
With more than 14 years on record, the USGS baseline gives a practical reference for what is normal for this date, not just what the gauge reads right now.
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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