Reservoirs
Near normalWhiskeytown Lake level
Live reservoir storage and water level in Sacramento basin, California
Data through Oct 15, 2026 · source last checked Oct 17, 2026 · page revised Oct 16, 2026
Cite
- Storage
About this data
- Source
- US Bureau of Reclamation RISE; California reservoirs via CA DWR CDEC
- Series
- End-of-day reservoir storage
- Geography
- Whiskeytown Lake level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Oct 15, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 237,005 af, 0% above the 5-yr median, 98% of capacity.
Whiskeytown storage held at 237,005 af, at the 5-year median and 98% of capacity. The reservoir declined 0.4% over the past month and 0.2% year over year.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 237,005 af | 236,910 af | +0.0% |
| Month over month | 237,005 af | 237,895 af | -0.4% |
| Year over year | 237,005 af | 237,514 af | -0.2% |
| vs 5-yr median | 237,005 af | 237,005 af | 0.0% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Latest reading, Oct 15, 2026 | 1,208.72 ft above sea level |
| Change from a week earlier | +0.03 ft |
| Change from a year earlier | -0.16 ft |
| 5-yr median for the date | 1,208.72 ft |
| Below full pool | 1.28 ft |
| Five-year low | 1,197.52 ft (Dec 22, 2021) |
| Five-year high | 1,213.16 ft (Jan 14, 2023) |
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full pool elevation | 1,210 ft above sea level (top of active conservation pool) | USBR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 252 ft | USBR |
| Surface area at full pool | 3,458 acres | USACE NID |
| Total capacity | 241,100 acre-feet | CDEC |
Previous weeks
An earlier week
Whiskeytown storage is at 237,037 af, 98% of capacity and holding at the 5-year median. The lake dropped 0.5% month over month and 0.3% year over year.
Week of Oct 7, 2026
Whiskeytown storage fell to 236,973 af, down 0.3% on the week. The lake is holding at the 5-year median and 98% of capacity.
Week of Sep 23, 2026
Whiskeytown storage stood at 236,846 af, down 0.4% on the week. The lake remains at the 5-year median and holds 98% of capacity.
Week of Sep 15, 2026
Whiskeytown storage held at 237,895 af, 99% of capacity, essentially flat over the week and month. The lake sits at its 5-year median.
About Whiskeytown Lake
Whiskeytown Lake's water level is 1,208.72 feet above sea level as of Oct 15, 2026, 1.28 feet below full pool (1,210 feet), with 237,005 acre-feet in storage (98% of capacity). That is 0.03 feet higher than a week earlier and 0.16 feet lower than a year earlier.
Whiskeytown Dam sits on Clear Creek west of Redding and regulates Trinity River water crossing into the Sacramento system. Diverted flow arrives from the Judge Francis Carr Powerhouse and mixes with local runoff before moving on through the CVP. The National Park Service manages the lake and its shoreline as the Whiskeytown Unit of a national recreation area.
Total capacity is 241,100 af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 202,807 af to 251,365 af.
Whiskeytown Lake is one of the 21 major reservoirs this site totals each day, and one of several it tracks in the Sacramento basin. For the combined picture, western reservoir levels carries the storage of all 21 on one chart, which is the number to watch when the question is about the West as a whole rather than about this project.
Those figures describe the reservoir at full pool, not today. The chart at the top of this page tracks storage in acre-feet and the elevation table tracks the water surface in feet, so read storage against total capacity for how full the reservoir is, and the elevation against the full pool elevation and maximum depth for the size of the water column behind the dam. The two do not move together one for one: a reservoir narrows as it deepens, so one holding half its capacity still stands more than half as deep.
Sources: full pool elevation and maximum depth from the Bureau of Reclamation; surface area from the Army Corps' National Inventory of Dams; total capacity from the California Data Exchange Center.