WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Smith Fork at Temperance Hall in TN, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Smith Fork in the Caney watershed in Tennessee.
For this reach, the seasonal shape is modest on paper but useful on the ground: the typical high month is February at 3.83 ft (1.17 m), and the typical low month is October at 2.5 ft (0.76 m). The typical annual swing is 15.9 in (40.4 cm), so docks, pumps, and low-water crossings should be set with that range in mind.
The regional pattern matters here too: winter-spring rain floods dominate, and steep tributaries rise fast. In practice, that means the river can change quickly when runoff arrives upstream of the gauge, even when the fair-weather level looks steady.
The record high is 21.98 ft (6.7 m) in March 2021. The record low is 1.66 ft (0.51 m) in October 2016. Those two marks bracket what this station has seen across 35 years on record, and they show how much headroom there is between a normal low season and a flood peak.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed in the facts for this station, so there is nothing here to use as a warning-time figure. That also means the seasonal rhythm is the main guide for planning, not a short-rise record.
For anyone fishing or keeping equipment near the bank, the main takeaway is that February tends to run higher than October, but large events can push well beyond the usual band.
This page’s hero number is most useful when read against the median for the same calendar day, not as a raw elevation by itself. A level that looks ordinary in one season can be high for that date, and a low-looking number can still be normal for late summer or fall.
At this station, the reading comes from the USGS at Smith Fork at Temperance Hall, and the record spans more than 35 years. The upstream area above the gauge is 214 square miles (554 km2), so the number reflects runoff from that catchment, not just what is happening right beside the bridge.
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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