3622.29 ft NGVD29
level 17.7 ft below full pool — on the low side for mid-August
Reading comes straight from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data (USACE series YETL.Elev.Inst.1Hour.0.Best-NWO) and updates live when you load this page.
Bighorn 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.
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.
- 2009 (wettest on record)
- 1992 (driest on record)
- 2025 (last year)
- 2026 (this year)
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 | 3640.00 ft NGVD29 · per US Bureau of Reclamation (Yellowtail Dam) full-pool reference |
|---|---|
| Conservation capacity | 1,011,052 acre-feet · per US Bureau of Reclamation (Yellowtail Dam) capacity reference |
| Gauge | USACE series YETL.Elev.Inst.1Hour.0.Best-NWO · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data |
| Datum | NGVD29 — 3640.0 = top of conservation/joint use per USACE CDA levels (USBR project page lists 3614.0 as top of active conservation below the joint-use zone). Top of flood 3657. |
| 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
How full is Bighorn Lake right now?
Bighorn Lake is at 3622.29 ft (NGVD29) as of August 15, 2026 — 17.7 ft below full pool — on the low side for mid-August
Is Bighorn Lake full?
Not quite — at 3622.29 ft, Bighorn Lake is 17.7 ft below its full pool of 3640.00 ft (NGVD29).
What is full pool for Bighorn Lake?
Full pool (the conservation pool) for Bighorn Lake is 3640.00 ft NGVD29, per US Bureau of Reclamation (Yellowtail Dam) full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.