Valley Creek at Center ST at Birmingham Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Valley Creek at Center ST at Birmingham in AL, United States, built from official government gauge data.
- Location AL, United States
- Watershed upper black warrior
- Primary gauge 02461130 (USGS)
About Valley Creek at Center ST at Birmingham
Valley Creek in the Upper Black Warrior watershed in Alabama is monitored at a USGS station in Birmingham.
Season by season
February is the highest typical month here, at 1.61 ft (0.49 m), while October is the lowest typical month, at 1.52 ft (0.46 m). That seasonal range is small, with a typical annual swing of 1.1 in (2.8 cm). For a creek used by nearby landowners and anglers, that means the day-to-day level usually stays close to its seasonal band, but the creek still responds to storm runoff.
The regional pattern is rain-driven: winter and spring rains set the annual peaks, and long warm-season low flows are common between storms. In this record, summer and fall can still rise hard when a storm system comes through.
Records and rises
The record high is 3.65 ft (1.11 m), reached in June 2022. The record low is 1.44 ft (0.44 m), reached in December 2017. Those two marks show how much the creek can move over a short range compared with its typical seasonal swing.
The station has about 10 years on record. That is enough to show a working pattern, but not enough to treat any single high or low as permanent. The fastest 24-hour rise is not available in the facts here, so I cannot say how much warning this creek gives during a surge.
Reading the hero number
The number at the top of the page compares today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because a given water level means something different in February than it does in October.
This page is based on the USGS station at Valley Creek at Center ST at Birmingham, AL, with about 10 years of record.
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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