WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Loading…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Wolf Creek at Highway No. 16a in Canada, AB, Canada, built from official government gauge data.
Wolf Creek at Highway No. 16a sits in the Lower McLeod watershed in Alberta.
The station drains 823 km2 (318 sq mi) upstream of the gauge. That is the area that feeds the reading here, not the whole Lower McLeod watershed.
For people living or working near the creek, that upstream area is large enough that conditions can change from one part of the basin to another before they show up at the gauge. The creek is one of the local reference points beside Groat Creek near Whitecourt and the McLeod River stations at Whitecourt and Rosevear.
This site has 71 years on record, so the pattern behind the page is long enough to matter.
The record high is 4.82 m (15.83 ft) in June 2023. The record low is 1.04 m (3.41 ft) in August 2021. Between those two points, the creek has shown a wide range for a station this size, and that range is what a bank, intake, crossing, or low-lying access has to handle.
The seasonal pattern is clear. The highest typical month is May at 1.52 m (4.99 ft), and the lowest typical month is October at 1.15 m (3.78 ft). The typical annual swing is 36.8 cm (14.5 in). In plain terms, spring is the month to watch for higher water, while late summer into fall tends to sit lower.
The regional rhythm fits the numbers: snowmelt usually drives the late-spring high, and summer storms can push sharp rises.
The number shown at the top of the page is today’s reading against the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because a level only tells you where the water sits right now; the day-of-year median shows whether it is high or low for this time of year.
For a station with more than 71 years on record, that context is the part that helps with planning. The agency behind the record is Water Survey of Canada.
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.