St. Joseph Creek at Route 34 at Lisle Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for St. Joseph Creek at Route 34 at Lisle in IL, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location IL, United States
- Watershed des plaines
- Primary gauge 05540195 (USGS)
About St. Joseph Creek at Route 34 at Lisle
St. Joseph Creek at Route 34 at Lisle is in the Des Plaines watershed in Illinois.
What the record shows
The record high is 12.44 ft (3.79 m), set in April 2013. The record low is 3.13 ft (0.95 m), set in October 2010.
The usual annual pattern is modest here. April is the highest month at 4.17 ft (1.27 m), while September is the lowest month at 3.85 ft (1.17 m). That typical swing is 3.9 in (9.8 cm), so day-to-day changes are usually small compared with the record range. For a dock, crossing, or intake, that means the creek usually stays in a fairly tight band, but spring can still carry the higher water.
I do not have a fastest 24-hour rise value for this station, so I cannot give a warning-time number from the record.
The watershed
This gauge drains 11.1 sq mi (28.7 km2) upstream of the station. That is the area feeding this reading, not the whole Des Plaines watershed.
For people living along the creek, the main takeaway is seasonal timing. April tends to be the higher month, and September the lower one. In prairie-midwest hydrology, that fits the general pattern of winter-spring rain and melt floods, with slower summer water levels later in the season. The record low in October 2010 and the record high in April 2013 show how much the creek can separate from its usual band.
Reading the hero number
This page’s hero number should be read against the median for the same calendar day, not just as a raw elevation. That comparison shows whether the creek is running above or below its normal level for this date.
USGS is the operating agency here, and the station has more than 38 years on record. That long record gives the daily median meaning: it tells you whether today’s water is ordinary for the season, or something that deserves a closer look.
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.
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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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