WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Loading…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Virgin River above the Narrows near Littlefield in AZ, United States, built from official government gauge data.
The Virgin River above the Narrows near Littlefield is in the Lower Virgin watershed, Arizona.
This reach is the kind of river where the month-to-month changes are small on paper but still matter at the bank. The typical high point comes in January at 16.87 ft (5.14 m), and the typical low point comes in June at 16.42 ft (5.01 m). That seasonal range is only 5.4 in (13.6 cm), so a dock, pump setup, or low crossing here is not dealing with a wide annual swing.
For people watching water use or bank conditions, that also means the river’s daily surprises matter more than the slow seasonal drift. In the Lower Virgin, the broader regional pattern is still worth keeping in mind: winter storms and high-country snowmelt feed the larger rivers, while summer monsoon thunderstorms can send short, sharp floods through channels that otherwise stay modest between events.
The record high on this station is 22.43 ft (6.84 m) in March 2023. The record low is 5.23 ft (1.59 m) in May 2013. That spread shows how far this river can move when conditions line up differently from the usual seasonal pattern.
There is no fastest 24-hour rise listed in the facts here, so I will not guess at warning time. On a river like this, any short-term rise is the number that matters for a low bank, a crossing, or a pump intake, because it tells you how quickly conditions can change between checks.
This station has 28 years on record, so those extremes sit on a fairly useful local history.
The hero number on this page is today’s reading, set against the median for the same calendar day across the station’s record. That comparison is more useful than raw elevation because it tells you whether the river is running typical for this date, not just how high the water is in absolute terms.
This is a USGS station on the Virgin River. With more than 28 years of record, the day-to-day comparison gives cottagers, anglers, and water users a better sense of where the river stands relative to its usual pattern for this time of year.
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 in a growing number of countries. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 17,900 gauged lakes and rivers in a growing number of countries, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, the Environment Agency for England, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales, the Office of Public Works in Ireland (waterlevel.ie), the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), the State of Queensland's water monitoring network, and on the Great Lakes the Canadian Hydrographic Service and NOAA. 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.
Field notes and explainers from the Nibi desk - how to read a staff gauge, what a 100-year flood actually means, how snowpack becomes summer water.
The largest lake in Norway read under 8 metres for decades and reads over 120 today. The water did not move; the ruler did. What the zero of a gauge is, why a record only means something on one reference, and what we do when the zero moves.
There was no rain. A slab of glacier let go above the Trishuli, and a river gauge reading normal at 8:40 was silent by 8:50. What a river network can see coming, what it cannot, and what warning has to look like when the water outruns the news.
For five years, spring 2019 was the mark every Lake Muskoka decision answered to. In April 2026 the lake went two centimeters higher - and the official books have not caught up yet.
Inside the freshet cycle that puts Manitoba shorelines at risk each year - and why 2026 broke the script.
The science of snow water equivalent and why it drives the season ahead.
What the numbers on the measuring stick actually tell you.
Why Central and South Texas rivers go from gravel beds to fifty-year records in an afternoon - including July 2026 on the Nueces.
One percent, every year, forever - unwrapping hydrology's most misunderstood phrase, and how it differs from our own percentiles.