3546.03 ft NGVD29
level 14.0 ft below full pool — typical for late September
Reading comes straight from U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System (USGS gauge 12362000) and updates live when you load this page.
Is Hungry Horse Reservoir full?
Not quite — 14.0 ft below full pool as of September 23, 2026
How full is Hungry Horse Reservoir? 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.
Hungry Horse Reservoir through the year
The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 1980–2006. 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.
- 2005 (most recent on record, wettest on record)
- 1993 (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 | 3560.00 ft NGVD29 · per Bureau of Reclamation full-pool reference |
|---|---|
| Conservation capacity | 3,467,179 acre-feet · per Bureau of Reclamation capacity reference |
| Gauge | USGS gauge 12362000 · U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System |
| Datum | NGVD29 |
| 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 Hungry Horse Reservoir today?
Hungry Horse Reservoir is at 3546.03 ft (NGVD29) as of September 23, 2026 — 14.0 ft below full pool — typical for late September.
Is Hungry Horse Reservoir full?
Not quite — at 3546.03 ft on September 23, 2026, Hungry Horse Reservoir is 14.0 ft below its full pool of 3560.00 ft (NGVD29).
How full is Hungry Horse Reservoir?
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 Hungry Horse Reservoir?
Full pool (the conservation pool) for Hungry Horse Reservoir is 3560.00 ft NGVD29, per Bureau of Reclamation full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.