Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for Yellowstone River NO. 1 near Fairview in ND, United States, built from official government gauge data.
Yellowstone River NO. 1 near Fairview is a gauged river in the Lower Yellowstone watershed in North Dakota.
The record spans more than 50 years. The highest stage in that record was 25.15 ft (7.67 m) in May 2011. The lowest was 7.02 ft (2.14 m) in August 2001.
That spread matters on the bank. A river that can move from 7.02 ft (2.14 m) to 25.15 ft (7.67 m) does not stay in one lane for long. The typical annual swing is 6.7 ft (2.04 m), with the highest typical month in June at 16.63 ft (5.07 m) and the lowest typical month in September at 9.93 ft (3.03 m). For dock owners, that means summer setup is not the whole story; late-season water can sit several feet below early-summer levels.
This station drains 70000 sq mi (181299 km2) above the gauge. In northern-prairie country, the main high-water season is spring snowmelt on frozen ground, and the Red basin is the clearest example of that pattern. On very flat ground, high water can linger for weeks. That is the seasonal rhythm to watch here: rising water can arrive fast in the melt season, and it can take time to leave.
For anglers, that usually means changing access, stronger current over familiar bars, and water that can stay high after the first rise has passed. For people watching fields or road approaches, the long tail of spring water matters as much as the peak.
The hero number on this page is today’s stage compared with the median for this calendar day in the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation alone because it shows whether the river is running above or below its usual level for this date.
This page draws from USGS records at a station with 50 years on record. If today’s reading is sitting well above the median, the river is behaving like a higher-than-normal day for the season; if it is below, conditions are quieter than usual for the calendar.
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 23,050 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, the Bureau of Reclamation, 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, the State of Victoria's, the State of South Australia's, the Northern Territory's and the State of Western Australia's water monitoring networks, the French State's hydrometric network (Vigicrues, through Hub'Eau), the German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration's gauges (WSV, through PEGELONLINE), 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.
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