RiverTrax: River Levels & Flow

Only ~12,000 U.S. waterways have a gauge. RiverTrax shows live readings and forecasts on those — and NOAA-modeled flow where no gauge exists. Tap any creek and watch it.

Rivers and streams can change by the hour. RiverTrax tells you what yours is doing right now — and what it's about to do.

Live readings from thousands of USGS and NOAA gauges — water level, discharge, flood stage, and trend direction. And now, for the vast majority of rivers and creeks that have no gauge, an estimate modeled by NOAA — updated hourly.

Just like you don't need a weather station in your backyard to get a forecast, the same is true for rivers.

NEW — RIVER STRETCHES Only about 12,000 rivers in the U.S. have a sensor in the water. Everything else — the creek behind your house, the section below the dam, the gorge run — has had nothing. Until now.

Tap any river or creek on the map. Name it your way: "Below the dam," "The gorge section." See its estimated flow right now, which way it's trending, and a 10-day outlook. Save it next to your favorite gauges and watch it the same way.

Stretch conditions come from NOAA's National Water Model, the federal system that simulates flow on every river and creek in the country. Estimates are always labeled Estimated, attributed to NOAA, and marked with ≈.

WE TELL YOU WHEN WE'RE LESS SURE A big river running steadily gets a number. A small creek, or water a storm is pushing around, gets a range — what the model can honestly support there. And when the model's output can't be trusted, RiverTrax says "estimate unavailable" instead of showing you a confident wrong number.

FOR ANGLERS When steelhead push in on a fall rain, the question is always the same: has it dropped back into shape yet? Watch discharge and trend on your tributaries, set your fishable range, and let Sweet Spot Alerts tell you the day it comes back down, instead of driving out to look.

FOR KAYAKERS & RAFTERS See current discharge and whether it's rising or falling. Set your ideal flow range and let Sweet Spot Alerts tell you when conditions are lining up — before you drive to the put-in. Set a good range on a stretch and see it shaded right on the 10-day chart.

FEATURES

Every Gauge, Right Now Water level in feet, discharge in CFS, flood stage classification, and trend direction — all updated continuously.

Charts You Can Actually Read Observed discharge plotted alongside official NWS forecasts on a clean timeline. Flood stage thresholds — Major, Moderate, Minor, and Action — are marked right on the chart. Tap once for the extended 10-day outlook.

Sweet Spot Alerts Set your ideal flow or gauge height range for any station. RiverTrax watches the forecast and notifies you when your window is coming — days in advance, not the morning of.

Get Warned Before It Happens Per-station alerts for flood stage, discharge in CFS, or gauge height in feet. RiverTrax monitors in the background and notifies you when thresholds are hit.

Your Rivers on Your Home Screen Pin favorite gauges to your iPhone home screen. Live discharge, gauge height, and trend at a glance — no app open required.

Follow the River Navigate directly to upstream and downstream gauges from any station, and see every USGS gauge on the same waterway as a stretch.

River Journal — Only on RiverTrax Write a note on any gauge or stretch and RiverTrax stamps it with the exact conditions at that moment — discharge, gauge height, and rate of change. Build a personal record of what flows fished or paddled well.

How This Works A plain-language explainer built into the app: where every number comes from, what a gauge measures, how a stretch is estimated, and how much to trust each one.

Up and Running in Minutes No account required. No setup. Find your water, save your favorites, and go.

River data provided by USGS and NOAA. Estimates and extended outlooks are model output, not official forecasts. Not intended for navigation or safety-of-life decisions. Always consult official sources and use good judgment.