WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Vermilion Bay(B. Fearman) near Intracoastal City in LA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Vermilion Bay(B. Fearman) near Intracoastal City is a gauged river in the Vermilion watershed, Louisiana.
This gauge sits in lowland water that responds slowly. In this part of Louisiana, rainfall flooding and backwater effects can keep levels elevated for days, and hurricane-season surges can push water up quickly. For people watching a dock, canal crossing, or low driveway, the main question is often not whether the water will move, but how long it will stay up.
The station has 27 years on record, so the range here is worth taking seriously. The record high is 9.54 ft (2.91 m), set in October 2020. The record low is 2.3 ft (0.7 m), set in December 2000.
Seasonally, the bay is highest in September at 6.19 ft (1.89 m) and lowest in January at 5.34 ft (1.63 m). That is a typical annual swing of 10.2 in (25.8 cm).
For day-to-day use, that is a modest range compared with the record spread, but it still matters. A few tenths of a foot can change whether a shallow launch works, how much freeboard a small dock has, or whether an intake sits in cleaner water or closer to bottom sediment. The September high also lines up with the part of the year when tropical weather can matter most.
The number shown at the top of this page is most useful when set beside the median for the same calendar day in the USGS record. Raw elevation by itself only tells you the gauge height. Against the day-of-year median, you can see whether the bay is running high or low for this time of year.
That matters more than a single reading because this station has 27 years on record, and the usual seasonal level here is not fixed. USGS is the operating agency for this site.
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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