WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Waller Creek at Red River St, Austin in TX, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Waller Creek in the Austin-Travis Lakes watershed in Texas.
This station drains 4.9 sq mi (12.8 km2) above Red River Street, so the numbers here reflect a small catchment that can respond quickly when rain falls hard.
For people living or fishing near the creek, the main thing is the short-memory pattern: water can rise in hours, then settle back into long low-flow stretches between events. That is the hydrology you watch on this reach.
The record high is 4.44 ft (1.35 m), set in March 2015. The record low is 2.8 ft (0.85 m), set in August 2016. Those two marks show the range this site has already reached, and they are a reminder that a creek this size can move outside its usual band without much warning.
The seasonal shape is narrow but real. The typical high month is May at 3.41 ft (1.04 m), and the typical low month is August at 3.29 ft (1 m). The typical annual swing is 1.5 in (3.7 cm).
That small swing means day-to-day changes are often modest outside storm periods, but the flood response is not modest when rainfall hits the basin. A dock, crossing, or intake here needs to tolerate quick jumps more than slow seasonal drift. August is usually the low point on the calendar, yet the record low also sits in August, which fits the dry side of the yearly pattern.
Today’s reading is best read against the median for this calendar day, not just as a raw height. Raw elevation tells you where the water sits right now; the day-of-year median tells you whether it is running high or low for this station’s usual seasonal state.
This station is operated by the USGS, and the record spans more than 12 years. That record length matters because it gives a local baseline for a creek that can change quickly after rain. When the page shows today’s number beside the calendar-day median, you can tell whether the creek is behaving normally for the season or sitting outside its usual range.
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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