Willow Creek near Claresholm Water Level
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Willow Creek near Claresholm in Canada, AB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
- Location Canada, AB, Canada
- Watershed central oldman willow
- Primary gauge 05AB021 (Water Survey of Canada)
About Willow Creek near Claresholm
Willow Creek near Claresholm is in the Central Oldman - Willow watershed in Alberta.
Season by season
The usual pattern here is modest through most of the year, with the highest month in July at 0.79 m (2.59 ft) and the lowest month in October at 0.56 m (1.82 ft). The typical annual swing is 23.5 cm (9.3 in), so day-to-day changes are often small compared with the bigger shifts that matter to a crossing, intake, or bank access.
That said, the record shows the creek can move fast. For foothills and prairie waters, snowmelt can build late-spring peaks, and summer storms can bring sharp rises. On this station, the seasonal shape is not a flood guarantee or a flood warning by itself; it is the baseline to compare against when weather turns.
Records and rises
The record high is 4.2 m (13.79 ft), reached in June 2013. The record low is 0.33 m (1.09 ft), reached in January 2024. Those two marks bracket how much water this station has carried on its worst and driest days in the record.
The fastest 24-hour rise was 2.57 m (8.4 ft) in June 2013. That is the warning time this creek can give: a large change in a single day leaves little room to move gear, check banks, or react at a crossing.
The fastest 24-hour drop was 81.8 cm (32.2 in) in June 2013. That kind of fall matters too, because a level that comes up quickly can also leave just as fast.
Reading the hero number
The hero number on this page compares today’s reading with the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because the same level can mean something different in July than it does in October.
This station has more than 49 years on record, so the day-by-day median is built from a long local history. The operating agency is Water Survey of Canada.
How this page is built
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.
How Nibi Metrics works · Water stories
Nibi Metrics - live water levels, flow, and forecasts for 17,900+ lakes and rivers
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.
What you can see for any monitored lake or river
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.
Alerts that watch the water for you
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.
Where Nibi comes from
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.
Coverage
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.
Free forever, funded by members
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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