Reservoirs
Near normalWhiskeytown Lake level
Live reservoir storage and water level in Sacramento basin, California
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
- Whiskeytown Lake level
- Unit
- acre-feet
- Calculation
- Daily reading
- Last observation
- Sep 23, 2026
- Update frequency
- Daily
Now 236,846 af, 0% below the 5-yr median, 98% of capacity.
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.
| Period | Current | Prior | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week over week | 236,846 af | 237,704 af | -0.4% |
| Month over month | 236,846 af | 237,291 af | -0.2% |
| Year over year | 236,846 af | 237,736 af | -0.4% |
| vs 5-yr median | 236,846 af | 237,387 af | -0.2% |
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Latest reading, Sep 23, 2026 | 1,208.67 ft above sea level |
| Change from a week earlier | -0.27 ft |
| Change from a year earlier | -0.28 ft |
| 5-yr median for the date | 1,208.87 ft |
| Below full pool | 1.33 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
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.
Week of Sep 2, 2026
Whiskeytown storage stood at 238,119 af, up 0.3% on the week. The lake is at 99% of capacity and tracks at the 5-year median.
Week of Aug 26, 2026
Whiskeytown storage stood at 237,482 af through August 26, down 0.1% on the week. The lake is at 98% of capacity and running at the 5-year median for the season.
Week of Aug 19, 2026
Whiskeytown held 237,831 af on 2026-08-19, flat on the week and at 99% of capacity. The reservoir runs 0% above its 5-year median.
About Whiskeytown Lake
Whiskeytown Lake's water level is 1,208.67 feet above sea level as of Sep 23, 2026, 1.33 feet below full pool (1,210 feet), with 236,846 acre-feet in storage (98% of capacity). That is 0.27 feet lower than a week earlier and 0.28 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.