Shoal Creek at Columbia Drive near Atlanta Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Shoal Creek at Columbia Drive near Atlanta in GA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location GA, United States
- Watershed upper ocmulgee
- Primary gauge 02203863 (USGS)
About Shoal Creek at Columbia Drive near Atlanta
Shoal Creek in the Upper Ocmulgee watershed, Georgia, is measured by a USGS station on Columbia Drive near Atlanta.
What the record shows
The station has 17 years of record.
The highest reading on file is 11.03 ft (3.36 m) in September 2024. The lowest is 3.3 ft (1.01 m) in July 2012. That span matters for anyone watching bankfull room, a low intake, or a dock that needs to stay usable through both ends of the range.
Seasonally, the creek is usually a little higher in February, when the typical level is 3.82 ft (1.16 m), and a little lower in October, when the typical level is 3.58 ft (1.09 m). The typical annual swing is 2.9 in (7.3 cm), so the day-to-day background change is small compared with the record jumps.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed here, so I will not guess at warning time from this page.
The watershed
The station drains 8.6 sq mi (22.4 km2) above the gauge. That is the contributing area for this reading, not the full watershed farther downstream.
This is a rain-driven setting. Winter and spring rains usually carry the creek higher than late summer and fall, and warm-season lows often show up between storms. When tropical systems reach inland, they can drive the sharpest rises on waters like this one.
For a neighbor on this creek, the practical message is simple: expect modest seasonal movement most of the time, but stay alert for fast jumps during heavy rain periods. The record high shows the upper end of what this small basin can deliver.
Reading the hero number
The hero number on this page is the current reading, set beside the median for this calendar day across the station’s record. That is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether today is typical for this date, not just whether the gauge is above zero.
This station is run by the USGS. With 17 years of record, the calendar-day median gives a better read on where Shoal Creek sits in its usual seasonal pattern.
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.
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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.
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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
