One map for rainfall, stream gauges, forecast, Lake Superior, watersheds and lidar across the TSA3 counties. Data comes from public agency services. Regional layers (FEMA flood hazard, public waters, impaired waters, easements, trout, karst, contamination, trails) draw at every zoom from vector tiles rebuilt monthly from the agency data, so boundaries stay accurate and don't change as you zoom. Zoomed in, the site checks the agency service in the background and outlines anything newer with a dashed line. Each legend note gives the data date. Visitors need no account and are not tracked. The team project list and saved analyses are in a database; field notes, caches and preferences stay in your browser.

Reading the map

• Dots are precipitation stations (CoCoRaHS, COOP, ASOS via RCC-ACIS), colored by the total for the window set at the top. Grey = no report. Hover for the value; click for the station's record.
• Triangles are stream gauges (MN DNR/MPCA cooperative gaging merged with USGS), colored by today's flow relative to the site's record for this date. Click for hydrographs with percentile bands.
• Stars are team projects (TSA3 staff sign in on the Projects tab).
• Click anywhere else for a point: ground elevation, the HUCs and land cover it falls in, trails within 100 ft, public waters, impaired waters, FEMA flood zone, MPCA contamination and regulated sites nearby, easements, federally listed species from USFWS IPaC (including northern long-eared and tricolored bat ranges), wetland, parcel, soils, nearby wells, gridded rainfall and percent of normal, forecast, soil moisture, Atlas 14 design storms, and the watershed tools. Sections sit in fixed, grouped rows; each row's header gives the answer (for example the flood zone or parcel owner), and a click opens the details. Rows you open stay open for the next point.

Controls

• End date / Window: the station colors and all totals follow these. ← → step the date; the ‹ › buttons do the same.
• Keyboard: / search, L layers menu, ? this help, ←/→ previous or next day, Esc closes menus and dialogs.
• Map tools (left edge): zoom, locate me (centers on your GPS position and follows until you drag the map; if the button reports that location is blocked, allow it for this site from the lock icon in the address bar), measure distance or area (click or tap points, then Finish; on a keyboard, double-click or Enter finishes and Esc clears; the distance tool's Profile button charts the lidar ground profile along the line), and compare imagery (a swipe divider between the current basemap and any imagery year). The search box also finds tax parcels by PIN (any county, dashes optional) or by owner name (4+ letters), and takes coordinates: 46.9476, -91.7849, or UTM 15N as metres 592123, 5200456 or US survey feet 1943000, 17062000. Every Point panel shows the spot in lat/lon and UTM 15N metres and US feet with copy buttons.
• Radar: Now (reflectivity) is the live NWS radar mosaic, the same picture as radar.weather.gov. The Last 1 h … 24 h choices are rain totals estimated from radar and gauges, issued hourly and 1–2 h behind. The legend states which one is on and its valid time.
• Layers ▾ (grouped Rain and rivers / Water / Land / Hazards & subsurface): Rain stations, Stream gauges and Radar (with its product picker), Watersheds (USGS HUC-8/10/12 boundaries, any zoom), Contamination (MPCA cleanup and regulated sites, groundwater plumes, land-use restrictions, closed landfills), Trails (MN DNR, Superior National Forest and OpenStreetMap hiking, bike, ski and snowmobile trails), Land cover (NLCD 2021; the runoff tool's curve number uses it), Public waters (PWI), Impaired waters & TMDLs, Conservation easements (RIM, wetland bank), Wetlands (MN NWI update), Trout streams, Streams (StreamStats grid), Soils (hydrologic soil group or water-table depth), Parcels, FEMA (flood zones and floodways, BFE lines, lettered cross sections, LOMRs), Crossings (DNR culvert surveys plus NBI bridges), Wells (County Well Index, DNR drill holes, observation wells), and Karst. Zoomed out, the regional layers and FEMA hazard zones draw as a simplified whole-region overview and wetlands as the FWS 100 m wetland raster; full detail appears past the zoom shown on each row. Parcels, soils and wells need you to zoom in. Terrain ▾ adds MnTOPO lidar hillshade, elevation color, 2 ft and 10 ft contours, and USGS contours that work at any zoom.
• Search ( / ): place, gauge, station, project, parcel PIN, owner name or coordinates.
• Watershed (Point tab): delineates with USGS StreamStats, returns basin characteristics and regression flows, and runs the TSA3 regional curves for bankfull dimensions. TSA3 staff can save results to a project.
• Field tab (or the pin button on the map's left edge), for use on a phone on site: Point at my location averages about 8 s of GPS fixes; Tap to add point places one by hand; Start track records the route you walk (keep the screen on; if the phone locks, the track pauses and continues as a new segment when you come back; a loop that returns to its start also reports the enclosed acres); Add photos takes pictures from your gallery and places them from their GPS tags and compass direction (Solocator writes both; if a photo arrives without a location, use Place). Tap a yellow point, purple photo or red track on the map to see it. Everything stays on this device only, and nothing is uploaded. Export to Google Earth (KMZ with the photos inside), CAD (Civil 3D PNEZD points and a DXF in UTM 15N US feet, with lidar ground elevations), CSV or GPX. On iPhone, add the site to the Home Screen so Safari keeps the notes.
• CAD export: draw a rectangle and download imagery, lidar DEM and contours in UTM 15N US feet, with Civil 3D steps.
• Print site report (Point tab or a project): a one-document hydrology summary with sources.
• Link copies a URL that reproduces the exact view, date, layers and selection.

Caveats

• Northland Eco is a planning and screening tool, not an official product of MN SWCD Technical Service Area 3, DNR, MPCA, BWSR, FEMA, USFWS or any other agency or county. Data are shown as published by the issuing agencies and are provisional; verify with the agency of record before design, permitting or legal use.
• Station values are the 24 h ending the morning of the date shown; today's reports arrive through the morning.
• Percent of normal is only shown for 7-day and longer windows.
• PRISM grids lag 1–2 days. USGS and DNR values are provisional. Return periods use the nearest Atlas 14 grid node; use the official PFDS query for submittals.
• Regression flows take the region at the pour point, without area weighting or gage adjustment. Regional-curve dimensions are planning-level; verify with a bankfull survey. Design-storm peaks in the watershed section use the NRCS unit-hydrograph method with the MSE3 distribution for one lumped, unrouted basin: planning values, checked against MnDOT's HydroCAD example; model subareas and storage for design.
• Wetland, FEMA, parcel and easement boundaries are inventory or GIS versions. Jurisdictional wetland lines need a delineation, and the effective FIRM, recorded easement and deed govern.

Abbreviations

• AEP: annual exceedance probability (1% AEP = 100-year)
• BFE: base flood elevation
• CN: NRCS runoff curve number (AMC II = average antecedent moisture)
• CoCoRaHS / COOP / ASOS: volunteer, NWS cooperative and airport weather stations
• CSG: MN DNR/MPCA cooperative stream gaging
• FIRM: Flood Insurance Rate Map
• HSG: NRCS hydrologic soil group (A–D)
• HUC: USGS hydrologic unit code (HUC-8 subbasin, HUC-10 watershed, HUC-12 subwatershed)
• LOMR / LOMC: FEMA letter of map revision / change
• MSE3: Minnesota-specific NRCS 24-hour rainfall distribution (replaces Type II)
• NBI: FHWA National Bridge Inventory
• NLCD: National Land Cover Database
• NWI: National Wetlands Inventory
• OHWL: ordinary high water level
• PRF: peak rate factor of the NRCS unit hydrograph (484 standard, 400 flatter terrain)
• PWI: MN DNR Public Waters Inventory
• Q25 / Q75 / Q90: flow exceeded 25 / 75 / 90% of days for the date (high to low)
• QPE: quantitative precipitation estimate (radar plus gauges)
• RIM: BWSR Reinvest in Minnesota conservation easement
• TMDL / AUID: total maximum daily load study / MPCA assessment unit ID of an impaired reach or lake

Full list under Sources & methods above. RCC-ACIS · USGS NWIS · MN DNR/MPCA CSG · NWS API & RFC QPE · Open-Meteo · NOAA CO-OPS · NOAA Atlas 14 · USGS StreamStats · MnGeo/MnTOPO · TSA3 regional curve workbooks. Made and maintained by Matías Valero. An independent project; not an official product of MN SWCD Technical Service Area 3 or any government agency. Report a data problem or ask a question: matiasvalero@tsa3.org. Open source under the MIT license: github.com/Madruin/northland-hydro.