Swatara Creek at Middletown Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Swatara Creek at Middletown in PA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location PA, United States
- Watershed lower susquehanna swatara
- Primary gauge 01573600 (USGS)
About Swatara Creek at Middletown
Swatara Creek at Middletown is a gauged river in the Lower Susquehanna-Swatara watershed in Pennsylvania.
The watershed
This station drains 569 square miles (1,474 km2) upstream of the gauge, so conditions here reflect what is happening across a broad upstream area, not just the reach by Middletown. For people watching for bank changes, runoff, or rising water, that upstream area is the part that matters.
The creek’s seasonal pattern is clear. March is the highest month on the record summary, with a typical level of 4.97 ft (1.51 m). September is the lowest month, with a typical level of 1.81 ft (0.55 m). That is the rhythm a dock, intake, or low crossing has to live with each year.
What the numbers say
The station has 19 years on record, which is enough to show both ordinary seasonal movement and a wider range of extremes. The typical annual swing is 3.2 ft (96.2 cm), a useful gauge of how much the water can move between the low end of the year and the high end.
The record high was 21.81 ft (6.65 m) in September 2011. The record low was 0.99 ft (0.3 m) in September 2010. Those two readings show that late summer and early fall can bring very different conditions from one year to the next.
For anyone fishing, working an intake, or checking a crossing, the practical point is simple: the creek can be low in September, but it has also reached a much higher September crest.
Reading the hero number
The page’s hero number compares today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station’s record. That is more useful than raw elevation alone because it tells you whether the creek is running typical for this date, not just what the level is in isolation.
On a station with more than 19 years of record, that day-to-day comparison gives context built from the creek’s own history. USGS provides the reading at this site, so the number you see is tied to the same gauge record behind the seasonal and record values above.
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.
Alerts that watch the water for you
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.
Where Nibi comes from
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.
Coverage
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.
Free forever, funded by members
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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