WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Snow C near White Water CA in CA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Snow C near White Water CA is a river in the Whitewater River watershed in California.
The station record runs through more than 50 years. The high-water mark is 5.63 ft (1.72 m) in February 2019. The low-water mark is 1.09 ft (0.33 m) in November 2019.
The seasonal pattern is modest on the page, but it still matters. March is the usual high month at 2.62 ft (0.8 m), while November is the usual low month at 2.21 ft (0.67 m). The typical annual swing is 5 in (12.7 cm), which is the range a crossing, bank spot, or intake has to live with in an average year.
For someone using this water, the record says the river can move well outside its usual band in a wet month, and it can also sit near its low end in late fall. That is the spread to watch when planning access or reading a gauge trend.
The station drains 10.9 sq mi (28.2 km2) above the gauge. That is the area feeding this reading, not the full Whitewater River basin.
This reach sits in a dry mountain setting where the seasonal rhythm matters more than the calendar alone. Spring tends to carry the higher readings, while late fall and the long dry season tend to pull the river down. For nearby users, that means the water can change from a useful margin in spring to a tighter channel later in the year.
The number at the top of the page is most useful when you compare today’s reading with the median for this same calendar day across the station’s record. That puts today in context: not just high or low in absolute terms, but high or low for the season it is actually in.
That is better than raw elevation because a river at 2.62 ft (0.8 m) in March can mean something very different from 2.62 ft (0.8 m) in November. The station is published by the U.S. Geological Survey, and the record length is more than 50 years, so the day-by-day median has real context behind it.
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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