Disclaimer and safety notice

The data is provisional

Every reading comes from a public agency such as the USGS, NOAA or the Environment Agency (see Sources and methods). Agencies publish live values before anyone has checked them. Sensors fail, ice and debris disturb the measurement, and values are often corrected weeks later.

We fetch the data automatically, usually every 15 minutes. A reading can therefore be delayed, missing, duplicated or simply wrong, both at the agency and on our side.

Our labels are not official warnings

Words such as “high”, “normal” or “low”, the colours and the comparisons with past years are our own interpretation of the numbers. They are not warning levels set by an authority, even where we show the flood stages an agency publishes. Forecasts and weather data (for example from NOAA or Open-Meteo) are model results and can miss what actually happens.

Do not use Nivelmap for

Please do not base decisions that affect safety, health or property on this site alone. In particular, do not use it:

• for navigation on rivers, lakes or the sea, or to judge clearance under bridges or depth in a channel;
• as a flood warning or to decide whether to evacuate;
• to decide whether it is safe to swim, paddle, fish, wade or cross a river;
• as a basis for engineering, insurance or legal decisions without checking the agency’s verified data.

Where to find official warnings

Follow the warnings of the official services for your area. In the United States that is the National Weather Service (weather.gov) and your local emergency management; in England the Environment Agency’s flood warning service, in Scotland SEPA, in Wales Natural Resources Wales, in Northern Ireland the Department for Infrastructure; in Ireland Met Éireann and your local authority; in Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada and your provincial flood forecasting centre. Elsewhere use your national weather or flood warning service.

In an emergency call 911 (United States, Canada) or 999 / 112 (United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe) and do what the emergency services tell you.

Liability

Nivelmap is offered free of charge and as it is. We work carefully, but we cannot promise that the data is complete, correct, current or always available. To the extent the law allows, we accept no liability for loss or damage arising from the use of, or reliance on, information shown on this site. This does not limit any liability that cannot be excluded by law.

Nivelmap is independent. It is not run by, endorsed by or affiliated with any of the agencies whose data it shows.

Spotted something wrong?

Send the address of the page and a short description to data@nivelmap.com. If the error is in the agency’s own data, we will tell you where to report it.