lakedates.com

Minnesota · USACE St. Paul District (Sandy Lake Dam)

Big Sandy Lake water level

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

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

FULL POOL 1212 1214 1216
Elevation, feet (NGVD29)

as of October 1, 2026

1216.08 ft NGVD29

level 0.5 ft below full pool — unusually low for early October

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 Big Sandy Lake full?

Not quite — 0.5 ft below full pool as of October 1, 2026

How full is Big Sandy 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.

Big Sandy Lake through the year

The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 2015–2026. The summer drawdown — and how this year sits in it — shows up without reading a single number.

full pool 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 JFMAMJJASOND
Median and normal range by day of year, 2015–2026 · 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 1216 1218 JFMAMJJASOND
  • 2026 (this year)
  • 2025 (last year)
  • 2022 (wettest on record)
  • 2021 (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 1216.56 ft NGVD29 · per USACE St. Paul District (Sandy Lake Dam) full-pool reference
Conservation capacity 64,285 acre-feet · per USACE St. Paul District (Sandy Lake Dam) capacity reference
Gauge USACE lake gauge · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data
Datum NGVD29 — 1216.56 ft is the district's top of normal pool figure, in the same NGVD29 datum as the gauge.
Last verified August 20, 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 Big Sandy Lake today?

Big Sandy Lake is at 1216.08 ft (NGVD29) as of October 1, 2026 — 0.5 ft below full pool — unusually low for early October.

Is Big Sandy Lake full?

Not quite — at 1216.08 ft on October 1, 2026, Big Sandy Lake is 0.5 ft below its full pool of 1216.56 ft (NGVD29).

How full is Big Sandy 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 Big Sandy Lake?

Full pool (the conservation pool) for Big Sandy Lake is 1216.56 ft NGVD29, per USACE St. Paul District (Sandy Lake Dam) full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.