WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Santa Clara Riv Blw Winsor Dam, near Santa Clara in UT, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Santa Clara Riv Blw Winsor Dam, near Santa Clara is a USGS river station in the Upper Virgin watershed, Utah.
The station record runs for more than 50 years, so the range here is long enough to show how this reach behaves in dry years and wet years.
The highest level in the record is 20.73 ft (6.32 m), set in March 2023. The lowest is 10.6 ft (3.23 m), set in September 2014. That gap matters for anyone using a dock, pump, or bank access point: the river can sit far from its peak and still fall to a much lower base.
The seasonal pattern is modest but clear. The highest typical month is May at 14.19 ft (4.33 m), and the lowest typical month is August at 13.85 ft (4.22 m). The typical annual swing is 4.2 in (10.6 cm). In practice, that means the river usually changes by a narrow amount through the year, but the record shows that bigger departures do happen.
A fast 24-hour rise is not listed in the facts here, so I cannot say how much warning this station has given in past flood pulses.
The gauge drains 378 sq mi (979 km2) above the station. That is the area feeding this point, not the full watershed beyond it. For people upstream and downstream, that catchment is the part that controls what this gauge sees first.
In this part of Utah, the broad seasonal rhythm is snowmelt-dominated: spring tends to carry the higher flows, while late summer and the dry season tend toward lower water. Local storm bursts can still push the river up quickly, so a low seasonal average does not rule out a sharp rise.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading set against 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 high or low for this date, not just what the staff gauge shows.
This comparison is based on USGS data and about 50 years of record, so it gives a day-by-day baseline that fits the station’s own history.
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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