WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Snoqualmie River near Carnation in WA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Snoqualmie River near Carnation sits in the Snoqualmie watershed in Washington.
The seasonal pattern here is modest on a day-to-day basis but still matters for docks, pumps, and shore access. The typical high month is May, at 47.35 ft (14.43 m), and the typical low month is September, at 45.36 ft (13.83 m). That span is a typical annual swing of 23.9 in (60.7 cm).
For this part of Washington, the regional pattern is simple: west-side rivers tend to respond to fall-winter atmospheric rivers, while east-side and mountain rivers lean more on May-July snowmelt. This station sits on the west side of that divide, so higher water in the cool season is the pattern to watch.
The drainage area above the gauge is 603 sq mi (1562 km2), which is the land sending water to this station, not the whole watershed label on the map.
The record high at this station was 61.65 ft (18.79 m) in January 2009. The record low was 44 ft (13.41 m) in October 1986.
Those two marks frame what the river can do here. The record high is far above the typical seasonal band, so a shore installation sized only for average conditions can be caught short when the river runs well outside that band. The record low shows the opposite problem: access points, intakes, and launching spots may sit much lower than people expect after a dry stretch.
The fastest 24-hour rise is not available in the facts provided, so I cannot say how much warning this river has given in the sharpest past jumps.
The hero number on this page is best read as today’s level compared with the median for the same calendar day across the station record. That comparison is more useful than raw elevation because river level on its own does not say whether the water is high or low for this date.
This station has more than 50 years on record, and the data come from the USGS. A long record like that gives context: it lets you judge whether today is near the middle of the usual range, or pressing toward the higher or lower end for this day of the year.
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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