Northwest River Levels

I've noticed that the NL government gauge is not being updated at the moment. It has been this way for a while and I'm not sure when it will get fixed. However, the environment Canada gauge is still working fine and can be found at http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/formnav.asp?lang=0

Unfortunately this data is given as the head of the gauge (m), as opposed to the NL graph, which is converted to CMS. A few years ago I monitored the websites and came up with a fairly accurate conversion for the environment Canada data. This allows us to judge the water levels using numbers we're familiar with for the Northwest River. Listed below are a few touchstone levels for each gauge. I hope this helps you out.

Environment Canada (m) = NL Government (CMS) River Level
1.1 m = 10.7 cms Low
1.3 m = 15.8 cms Low
1.44 m = 20.1 cms Medium
1.6 m = 25.8 cms Medium
1.7 m = 29.8 cms High
1.8 m = 34.1 cms High
1.9 m = 38.8 cms High
2.0 m = 43.7 cms High
2.5 m = 73.3 cms Really High
3.0 m = 110.8 cms Really High

My conversion is an estimate, but is very accurate between 2 cms and 50 cms. Above 50 cms it becomes less accurate. Really though, if you're on Northwest River above 50 cms you know what you're about and you don't need a lousy gauge.

I hope this helps you out a bit. The Northwest is at about 20 cms today. In otherwords it is perfect. Judging by the weather forecast it will stay in a good window for a few days. So, get out there and paddle.