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 Carracas, CO. in CO, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The San Juan River near Carracas, CO. is in the Upper San Juan watershed in Colorado.
This station has 50 years on record. The highest level in the record was 8.07 ft (2.46 m) in October 2025, and the lowest was 1.56 ft (0.48 m) in August 2025.
The seasonal pattern is clear. May is the highest typical month at 3.76 ft (1.15 m), while September is the lowest typical month at 2.19 ft (0.67 m). That leaves a typical annual swing of 18.9 in (47.9 cm). For anyone using the river, that means the waterline can change enough through the year to affect a dock, a pump intake, or a fishing bar without any need to guess at conditions from one day alone.
The fastest 24-hour rise is not given here, so there is no station-specific warning-time figure to report.
The USGS station drains 1250 sq mi (3238 km2) above this point. That is the area feeding the gauge, not the full Upper San Juan watershed.
This reach sits in a snowmelt-dominated mountain system. The regional pattern points to a pronounced May-June peak, long low-flow winters, and sharp local rises from July-August thunderstorms. The record here fits part of that seasonal shape: May is the highest typical month, and September is the lowest typical month.
The hero number on the page is best read against the median for this calendar day, not as a raw elevation. A single stage value only says where the water sits right now; the calendar-day median shows whether it is running above or below the usual level for this date at this station.
That comparison matters because USGS has the longer local record behind it here, with 50 years on record. For day-to-day use, that gives cottagers, anglers, and irrigators a better sense of whether the river is acting normally for the season or sitting outside the usual range.
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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