WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for San Juan River near Bluff in UT, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The San Juan River near Bluff sits in the Lower San Juan watershed in Utah.
The station drains an area above this gauge of 23,000 sq mi (59,570 km2). For people watching the river, that is the basin feeding this point, not the whole named watershed.
This reach has a clear seasonal pattern. The highest typical month is June at 7.16 ft (2.18 m), and the lowest typical month is August at 5.23 ft (1.59 m). That is a typical annual swing of 23.1 in (58.8 cm), which is the range docks, pumps, and shallow crossings have to live with each year.
The record high is 13.57 ft (4.14 m), set in June 2019. The record low is 3.22 ft (0.98 m), set in July 2014. Those two marks bracket how far the river can move at this site.
With 50 years on record, this station gives a long view of the river’s range. For anglers, that means habitat and access can change a lot between the June high-water season and the August low-water season. For cottagers and anyone with an intake, the seasonal swing matters more than a single day’s level.
A fastest 24-hour rise is not provided here, so there is nothing more to say on warning time from this set of facts.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading compared with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether the river is running low, near typical, or high for this date.
At this station, the reading comes from the USGS. With more than 50 years of record, that calendar-day comparison gives a better read on what today means for the San Juan than a single number on its own.
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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