WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live lake level, flow, historical records and forecast for Tug Fork at Statts Mills in WV, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Tug Fork at Statts Mills is in the Upper Ohio-Shade watershed in West Virginia.
The station has more than 19 years on record. Its highest level reached 66.82 ft (20.37 m) in November 2011, and its lowest reached 36.06 ft (10.99 m) in October 2019. That spread tells you this water can sit in a fairly tight band for long stretches and still move a long way when conditions shift.
Seasonally, the highest typical month is February at 51.62 ft (15.73 m), while the lowest typical month is October at 49.06 ft (14.95 m). The typical annual swing is 30.7 in (78.1 cm). For anyone with a dock, pump intake, or bank access, that is the range to plan around, not a single reading.
The gauge drains 52.3 sq mi (136 km2) above the station. In steep Appalachian country, the annual high water often comes in winter and spring, and narrow tributaries can rise fast after heavy rain. Summer lows are common between storms.
That means this reach can change quicker than its everyday level suggests. Anglers should watch for short-notice rises after rain, and shoreline users should expect the water to spend much of the year near its seasonal middle, not at either record.
The number on the page is most useful when you compare today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station record, not with the raw elevation by itself. A single elevation can look ordinary or alarming on its own, but the calendar-day median shows whether the river is running high or low for this point in the season.
This station is published by the USGS, and the record covers more than 19 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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