WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Western Run at Western Run in MD, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Western Run at Western Run is in the Gunpowder-Patapsco watershed in Maryland.
The station has about 50 years of record. The highest reading in that span was 6.73 ft (2.05 m) in July 2018, and the lowest was 0.1 ft (0.03 m) in October 2007.
The seasonal pattern is fairly tight. The usual high point comes in March at 1.21 ft (0.37 m), and the usual low point comes in September at 0.8 ft (0.24 m). That typical annual swing is 4.9 in (12.4 cm), which is the range a dock, pump intake, or crossing has to handle from one part of the year to another.
I do not see a fastest 24-hour rise in the facts provided, so there is nothing here to use for warning time on rapid change.
The drainage area above this USGS station is 59.8 sq mi (155 km2). That is the land area feeding the gauge, not the full Gunpowder-Patapsco watershed.
For people living or fishing on Western Run, that upstream area is what matters when rain falls hard enough to push the line up or when dry weather leaves the channel low. The seasonal note says the highest typical water comes in March and the lowest in September, so the stream usually gives a wider margin in late winter and less in late summer.
The hero number on this page is the current stage compared with the median for this calendar day at the station. That is more useful than raw elevation because a stage that looks ordinary in one month can be high or low for another month.
This station is run by the USGS, and the record length is about 50 years.
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.
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