Reservoirs
Near normalCanyon Ferry Lake level
Live reservoir storage and water level in Missouri basin, Montana
Data through Sep 23, 2026 · source last checked Oct 1, 2026 · page revised Sep 24, 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
- Canyon Ferry Lake level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Sep 23, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 1.51M af, 0% above the 5-yr median, 80% of capacity.
Canyon Ferry Lake storage stands at 1.51M af, down 5.0% over the month. The lake is at 80% of capacity and holding at the 5-year median. Year over year, storage is up 4.8%.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 1.51M af | 1.52M af | -0.6% |
| Month over month | 1.51M af | 1.59M af | -5.0% |
| Year over year | 1.51M af | 1.44M af | +4.8% |
| vs 5-yr median | 1.51M af | 1.50M af | +0.1% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Latest reading, Sep 23, 2026 | 3,785.37 ft above sea level |
| Change from a week earlier | -0.29 ft |
| Change from a year earlier | +2.25 ft |
| 5-yr median for the date | 3,785.31 ft |
| Above the top of active conservation pool | 15.37 ft |
| Five-year low | 3,776.77 ft (Feb 27, 2022) |
| Five-year high | 3,797.21 ft (Jul 1, 2023) |
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Full pool elevation | 3,770 ft above sea level (top of active conservation pool) | USBR |
| Maximum depth at the dam | 172 ft | USBR |
| Surface area at full pool | 34,435 acres | USACE NID |
| Total capacity | 1,886,950 acre-feet | USBR |
Previous weeks
Week of Sep 15, 2026
Canyon Ferry storage stands at 1.52M af, down 5.7% from a month ago but up 4.4% year over year. At 81% of capacity, the reservoir sits at the 5-year median.
Week of Sep 2, 2026
Storage at Canyon Ferry stands at 1.56M af, down 5.6% since July but up 4% from a year ago. The lake sits 1% below the 5-year median, at 83% of capacity.
Week of Aug 26, 2026
Canyon Ferry storage is 1.58M af, down 5.5% over the past month. The lake is 2% below the 5-year median at 84% of capacity, up 3.7% year over year.
Week of Aug 19, 2026
Canyon Ferry storage fell to 1.60M af, down 1.2% on the week. Month-over-month storage declined 4.9%, leaving the lake 2% below the 5-year median. Year-over-year, the lake is up 2.9%.
About Canyon Ferry Lake
Canyon Ferry Lake's water level is 3,785.37 feet above sea level as of Sep 23, 2026, 15.37 feet above the top of active conservation pool (3,770 feet), with 1.51 million acre-feet in storage (80% of capacity). That is 0.29 feet lower than a week earlier and 2.25 feet higher than a year earlier.
Canyon Ferry Dam impounds the Missouri River east of Helena, part of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program. Reclamation operates it for hydropower, irrigation, flood control, and recreation. Covering better than 33,000 acres, it is Montana's third-largest body of water and a heavily used recreation lake in the state's western valleys.
Total capacity is 1.89M af, over the past five years storage has ranged from 1.26M af to 1.89M af.
Canyon Ferry Lake is one of the 21 major reservoirs this site totals each day. 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 Bureau of Reclamation.