Tar R at US 401 at Louisburg Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Tar R at US 401 at Louisburg in NC, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location NC, United States
- Watershed upper tar
- Primary gauge 02081747 (USGS)
About Tar R at US 401 at Louisburg
The Tar River at US 401 near Louisburg sits in the Upper Tar watershed in North Carolina.
The watershed
This station drains 427 square miles (1106 km2) upstream of the gauge. That is the catchment above this point, not the whole Upper Tar basin.
For people using the river, the main pattern is seasonal. The typical high point comes in March at 6.36 ft (1.94 m), and the typical low point comes in October at 4.3 ft (1.31 m). That annual swing is 24.8 in (62.9 cm), so docks, pumps, and low-water access points need to tolerate a noticeable change through the year.
The record range is wider than the seasonal pattern. The highest stage on record is 25.71 ft (7.84 m) in September 1999. The lowest stage on record is 3.1 ft (0.95 m) in September 1991. Those two values show how far this river can move when conditions are wet or dry.
For this part of North Carolina, winter and spring rains usually set the higher water levels, and late-summer tropical systems can bring fast rises. Between storms, warm-season low flows are the rule.
What the numbers say
The station has 50 years on record. That is enough history to separate an ordinary day from an unusual one.
The key numbers here are the seasonal median pattern and the extremes. March is typically the highest month, October the lowest, and the river’s record high and record low sit well outside that normal band. If you fish here, that means the river can be comfortable in one season and shallow enough to change access in another. If you draw water here, the seasonal swing matters as much as the single-day reading.
No fastest 24-hour rise is given in the facts for this page, so there is nothing to add on warning time from that metric.
Reading the hero number
This page’s hero number is the current stage compared with the median stage for this calendar day across the USGS record. That is more useful than raw elevation because it shows whether today is typical for this date, not just how high the water sits above a datum.
USGS is the operating agency here. With more than 50 years on record, the comparison has enough history to place today’s reading in context for cottagers, anglers, and anyone watching for higher or lower-than-usual water.
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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