WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for TRIB TO VILLAGE CREEK AT 50th ST IN BIRMINGHAM in AL, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Trib to Village Creek at 50th St in Birmingham sits in the Locust watershed, Alabama.
This USGS station has 14 years on record.
The record high is 3.23 ft (0.99 m), set in April 2014. The record low is 0.39 ft (0.12 m), set in November 2025.
The seasonal pattern is fairly tight. The highest typical month is February at 1.4 ft (0.43 m), and the lowest typical month is October at 1.11 ft (0.34 m). The typical annual swing is 3.5 in (8.8 cm).
For someone living near the channel or checking an intake, that means the water usually moves within a narrow band, but the record range is much wider than the month-to-month average. A small creek can still change quickly during rain, so the low-water pattern in fall does not guarantee stable conditions after a storm.
The drainage area above this station is 3.4 sq mi (8.7 km2).
That is the area feeding this gauge, not the full watershed downstream. On a small catchment like this, local rain matters fast. In this part of the Gulf South, winter and spring rains usually set the higher water of the year, while warm-season lows can hold between storms. Summer and fall rises can still be sharp when a tropical system or other heavy rain reaches the basin.
The hero number on this page is best read as a comparison with the median for the same calendar day in the station record, not as a raw height by itself. That tells you whether today is ordinary for this date, high for the season, or running low for the season.
This station is operated by the U.S. Geological Survey, and the record length is more than 14 years.
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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