WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Spring River near Waco in MO, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Spring River near Waco is in the Spring watershed in Missouri.
The river’s typical high water comes in May at 4.1 ft (1.25 m), and its typical low water comes in October at 1.57 ft (0.48 m). That makes a typical annual swing of 30.4 in (77.2 cm), which is the range a dock, crossing, or intake has to live with from one part of the year to another.
In this part of the country, flooding can come in any season after rain, and rises are often fastest in spring. On some nearby streams, karst springs help sustain baseflow between storms, so low water does not always mean the same thing from one reach to the next. For this river, the monthly pattern gives the clearest guide: May tends to run highest, October lowest.
The record high at this station is 30.44 ft (9.28 m), set in December 2015. The record low is 0.78 ft (0.24 m), set in October 2024. Those two marks show the span this gauge has seen over 50 years of record.
The station drains 1,164 sq mi (3,015 km2) upstream of the gauge. That is the area contributing water to this reading, not the whole watershed name on the map.
No fastest 24-hour rise is listed in the facts here, so there is nothing to quote for warning time.
The hero number on this page is the current stage compared with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because a stage can look ordinary in one month and high in another.
This gauge is a USGS station, and the comparison is built from 50 years of record. For anyone checking the river for a crossing, a pump, or a fishing plan, the calendar-day median shows whether today is running above or below its usual level for this date.
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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