Salt Creek near Rowell Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Salt Creek near Rowell in IL, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location IL, United States
- Watershed salt 0009
- Primary gauge 05578500 (USGS)
About Salt Creek near Rowell
Salt Creek in the Salt watershed, Illinois, is monitored at the USGS station near Rowell.
What the record shows
The station record runs for 50 years. The highest level in that record is 23.84 ft (7.27 m), reached in June 2021. The lowest is 8.65 ft (2.64 m), reached in October 2001.
The seasonal pattern is narrower than the extremes but still matters for daily use. The typical high point is in May at 12.34 ft (3.76 m), and the typical low point is in September at 9 ft (2.74 m). That is a typical annual swing of 3.3 ft (1.02 m). For a dock, pump intake, or low crossing, that is the band the water usually works through each year.
For people watching the creek, the record high says this channel can get well above its usual spring level, and the record low shows it can also sit much lower than that seasonal average. The fastest 24-hour rise is not available in the facts here, so it should not be assumed.
The watershed
The gauge drains 335 sq mi (868 km2) above the station. That is the area feeding this reading, not the full Salt watershed.
In this part of the Midwest, the seasonal rhythm is plain: winter and spring rain and melt floods are the main high-water period, slow flat-land drainage can keep water up for longer, and summer usually brings recession. On this creek, that means the water can stay elevated after a wet spell, and then settle back toward the late-summer low range.
For anglers, that seasonal spread changes access and current. For landowners and road watchers, the same spread sets the amount of room the creek needs between ordinary days and a wet spring.
Reading the hero number
The hero number on the page is most useful when you compare today’s level with the median for this calendar day across the station record. Raw elevation alone does not say whether the creek is running high, low, or near its usual stage for this date.
At this USGS station, that comparison is anchored in a 50-year record. A reading above the day’s median points to above-normal storage in the channel; a reading below it points to the lower part of the seasonal range.
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
