Illinois · USACE St. Louis District

Carlyle Lake water level

Today's reading against full pool and Carlyle Lake's own seasonal history.

Searched “Carlyle lake level” or “lake level for Carlyle Lake”? Same lake, same reading — you're in the right place. The current reading is right here too, whether you typed “current Carlyle Lake water level” or “current water level at Carlyle Lake”.

FULL POOL 440 442 444
Elevation, feet (NGVD29)

as of September 24, 2026

444.96 ft NGVD29

level At full pool — on the high side for late September

Reading comes straight from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data (USACE lake gauge) and updates live when you load this page.


Is Carlyle Lake full?

Yes — at full pool as of September 24, 2026

How full is Carlyle Lake? 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.


Carlyle Lake through the year

The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 1990–2026. The summer drawdown — and how this year sits in it — shows up without reading a single number.

full pool 445 450 JFMAMJJASOND
Median and normal range by day of year, 1990–2026 · elevation, feet (NGVD29)

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.

full pool 445 450 455 JFMAMJJASOND
  • 2026 (this year)
  • 2025 (last year)
  • 1993 (wettest on record)
  • 2007 (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 445.00 ft NGVD29 · per USACE St. Louis District full-pool reference
Conservation capacity 242,582 acre-feet · per USACE St. Louis District capacity reference
Gauge USACE lake gauge · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data
Datum NGVD29 — Top of conservation 445.0 NGVD29 (MVS series naming includes explicit NGVD-29 variants). Daily historical series MVDhist-rev verified back to 1975.
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 Carlyle Lake today?

Carlyle Lake is at 444.96 ft (NGVD29) as of September 24, 2026 — At full pool — on the high side for late September.

Is Carlyle Lake full?

Yes — at 444.96 ft on September 24, 2026, Carlyle Lake is at full pool (445.00 ft NGVD29).

How full is Carlyle Lake?

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 Carlyle Lake?

Full pool (the conservation pool) for Carlyle Lake is 445.00 ft NGVD29, per USACE St. Louis District full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.