786.25 ft project datum (matches CDEC gauge)
level 80.8 ft below full pool — typical for late September
Reading comes from California DWR — California Data Exchange Center (CDEC station EXC) by way of our own server, which asks the agency each time you load this page and passes on its figure in the agency's own datum, unchanged. Most of these reservoirs report every hour and a few report once a day, so the stamp beside the reading is a time of day for some lakes and a date for others — whichever CDEC put on it. For everything else the agency publishes about this reservoir, go to Lake McClure at CDEC.
Is Lake McClure full?
Not quite — 80.8 ft below full pool as of September 23, 2026
How full is Lake McClure? Not as a percentage: no storage figure comes through with this gauge reading, and a share of capacity worked out from the elevation alone would be a guess — how much water a reservoir holds at a given level is a curve only the operator's own capacity table knows. Feet from full pool is what the operator publishes, and it is the figure above.
Lake McClure through the year
The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 1985–2026. The summer drawdown — and how this year sits in it — shows up without reading a single number.
This year vs the years that matter
This year's trace against last year and the driest and wettest years on record — the drought-context question every lake regular asks.
- 2026 (this year)
- 2025 (last year)
- 2017 (wettest on record)
- 1992 (driest on record)
Full pool, datum, and the gauge
"Full pool" here means the conservation pool — the level the lake is designed to hold for water supply and recreation, not the flood-control space above it. The full explainer covers flood pool and dead pool too.
| Full pool | 867.00 ft project datum (matches CDEC gauge) · per Merced Irrigation District full-pool reference |
|---|---|
| Conservation capacity | 1,024,600 acre-feet · per Merced Irrigation District capacity reference |
| Gauge | CDEC station EXC · California DWR — California Data Exchange Center |
| Datum | project datum (matches CDEC gauge) — Full pool = SPK level 'New Exchequer.Elev.Inst.0.Top of Gross Pool' = 867.0 (top of spillway gates) |
| Last verified | August 15, 2026 |
LakeDates reports lake level, not ramp status. Whether a given ramp or marina is usable at this level varies ramp by ramp — call the marina before you tow.
Quick answers
What is the lake level for Lake McClure today?
Lake McClure is at 786.25 ft (project datum (matches CDEC gauge)) as of September 23, 2026 — 80.8 ft below full pool — typical for late September.
Is Lake McClure full?
Not quite — at 786.25 ft on September 23, 2026, Lake McClure is 80.8 ft below its full pool of 867.00 ft (project datum (matches CDEC gauge)).
How full is Lake McClure?
Not as a percentage: no storage figure comes through with this gauge reading, and a share of capacity worked out from the elevation alone would be a guess — how much water a reservoir holds at a given level is a curve only the operator's own capacity table knows. Feet from full pool is what the operator publishes, and it is the figure above.
What is full pool for Lake McClure?
Full pool (the conservation pool) for Lake McClure is 867.00 ft project datum (matches CDEC gauge), per Merced Irrigation District full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.