WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Shettleworth Bayou near Blanchard in LA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Shettleworth Bayou near Blanchard is a gauged river in the Cross Bayou watershed in Louisiana.
This reach has a small drainage area above the station, 9.8 square miles (25.4 square kilometres), so local rain can move the level around quickly. The seasonal high comes in February at 3.89 ft (1.19 m), while the seasonal low comes in August at 2.89 ft (0.88 m). That 12 in (30.6 cm) annual swing is modest, but on a bayou it still matters for docks, low crossings, and shallow intake pipes.
The seasonal note fits Gulf lowland hydrology: high water can linger when drainage is slow, and rainfall or backwater events can hold the level up for days. For anyone fishing this reach, that means access and current conditions can shift from one spell of weather to the next, even when the long-term range is not large.
Over 19 years on record, the bayou has reached 13 ft (3.96 m) in March 2016 and dropped to 1.45 ft (0.44 m) in September 2019. Those two marks show the range this station has already seen, and they are a useful check on what the channel and nearby low ground have had to handle.
The record high sits well above the usual February level, so a rise into that territory is not a routine seasonal move. The record low is much closer to the usual summer level, which tells cottagers and anglers that low water is part of the normal annual cycle here, not a rare event.
The hero number on this page should be read against the median level for the same calendar day across this station’s record, not as a stand-alone elevation. That comparison shows whether today is normal for the season, high for the date, or running below the usual pattern.
For this station, the operating agency is the USGS. With 19 years on record, that day-by-day context is strong enough to make the comparison useful for short-term decisions on access, fishing, and flood watch.
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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