WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Water of Leith at Murrayfield in Scotland, United Kingdom, built from official government gauge data.
Water of Leith at Murrayfield is a gauged river in Scotland.
The station drains 107 km2 (41.3 sq mi) upstream of the gauge, so what happens on nearby slopes shows up here quickly in wet weather. For people living along the river, that catchment size means local rain matters: levels can change with the weather that falls over the upper part of the drainage area, not just what is happening beside the bank.
This station has 34 years on record, which is enough to show a clear seasonal pattern and also a wide range of extremes.
The highest typical month is January at 0.62 m (2.03 ft). The lowest typical month is August at 0.45 m (1.48 ft). For a dock, intake, or bank access point, that means the river tends to run fuller in winter and lower in late summer.
The typical annual swing is 16.9 cm (6.7 in), which is modest in daily terms but still enough to matter where a boat is moored close to the edge or where shallow margins are used by anglers.
The record high is 2.35 m (7.71 ft), reached in April 2000. The record low is 0.34 m (1.11 ft), reached in September 2015. Those two marks show the reach has seen both sharp high water and very low water within the record.
The number shown on the page is best read against the median for this calendar day, not as a stand-alone height. A river stage by itself can be hard to interpret, but a date-by-date comparison shows whether this reading is unusually high or low for the time of year.
That matters on this river because the station has more than three decades of record with SEPA, so the daily median is grounded in a long local history. For cottagers, anglers, and anyone watching access or bank conditions, the comparison gives the quicker read on whether today is typical for the date or sitting outside the usual pattern.
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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