Most of the river levels come from the USGS Real-Time Water Data for the Nation. For Washington, the Washington Department of Ecology Streamflow Monitoring Network provides some of the flows. All of the California river levels come from Dreamflows. The British Columbia levels are currently provided by BC Hydro. A few river levels come from the US Bureau of Reclamation. And Columbia Gorge Whitewater provides the level for the Little White Salmon.
Quite a few! First, there are the standard ones such as:
NF = North Fork
MF = Middle Fork
SF = South Fork
EF = East Fork
WF = West Fork
No or N = North
Mi or M = Middle
So or S = South
Ea or E = East
We or W = West
Rvr or Rv = River
Crk or Cr = Creek
Second, there are lots of paddler shortcuts. Most section names and common "boater slang" river names are supported. This is usually the quickest way (with the least typing) to get the level you want. For example:
Robe = South Fork of the Sillaguamish
MF Nook = Middle Fork of the Nooksack
Sky = Skykomish
MM = Middle Middle (Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie)
Big Q = Big Quilcene River near mouth
LWS = Little White Salmon near Willard, WA
Tied 4 1st = San Joaquin Below Mammoth Pool Res
Chili = South American At Chili Bar
Purdons = South Yuba At Hwy 49 Bridge
Cresta = North Feather Below Grizzly Creek
Burnt Ranch = Trinity At Cedar Flat
Hells = Highland Creek Near North Stanislaus Confluence
Third, you can send the location of the gauge. For example:
Milsap = Middle Fork of the Feather River at Milsap Bar
Kyburz = South Fork of the American River below Kyburz
3 Rivers = Kaweah River at Three Rivers
Fourth, you can send the first 3 letters (or more) of any river for a list of matching USGS gauges. For example:
Met for a list of all gauges on the Methow
NF Sko for a list of all gauges on the North Fork of the Skokomish
Favorites are a way to get several river levels in 1 message (or maybe 2 if the river
names are really long). You can store up to 3 favorites. When you go over 3, the oldest one is
bumped off and the new one is added at the end.
To set a favorite:
Reply "F" or "f" to your latest river level message.
To get levels for all your favorites:
Send "Level favs" to 855-685-3556. The reply will list the latest level for each of your
favorites. To squeeze as much into a single text message as possible, the shortest boater slang
for the river name is used (for example, MM for Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie).
Keep in mind that it will take a little longer to receive your Favorites response because the
service has to get multiple river levels.
It depends on the source of the gauge. Most river levels update every hour; although some only update every 4 hours. A few river levels from the USBR only update daily. Dreamflows' river levels update at various intervals, depending on the river. The Little White Salmon updates whenever the Gorge Hits paddlers run it.
This is a limitation of the data provided by the gauge.
For gauges that have hourly data, the trend is based on the level change for the most recent 2 hours of data. For gauges that only update daily, the trend is the 24-hour change.
That's a great question! If you have a suggestion for a gauge to monitor, please send a link to the gauge to support@riverlevels.us
Sometimes due to the paddler shortcuts, it can be difficult to get a non-standard
gauge. For example, sending "Level Green" will return the level of the Green River
near Palmer, WA since this is the gauge that paddlers standardly use for
the Green. But what if you want the level of the Green River near Auburn, WA?
Simply send the full name of the river for a list of all gauges
on rivers with that name. For example, send "Level Green River" for a list of all gauges on
all Green Rivers in the United States. Adding "River", "Creek", etc. always bypasses the paddler shortcuts.