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South Dakota · USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management

Lake Oahe water level

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

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

FULL POOL 1580 1590 1600 1610
Elevation, feet (NGVD29)

as of September 24, 2026

1591.93 ft NGVD29

level 25.1 ft below full pool — on the low 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 Lake Oahe full?

Not quite — 25.1 ft below full pool as of September 24, 2026

How full is Lake Oahe? 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 Oahe 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 1580 1590 1600 1610 1620 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 1580 1600 1620 JFMAMJJASOND
  • 2026 (this year)
  • 2025 (last year)
  • 1997 (wettest on record)
  • 2006 (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 1617.00 ft NGVD29 · per USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management full-pool reference
Conservation capacity 21,876,000 acre-feet · per USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management capacity reference
Gauge USACE lake gauge · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Access to Water data
Datum NGVD29 — 1617.0 = top of multipurpose zone (base of exclusive flood control 1617-1620), NGVD29; capacity is storage at that level.
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 Oahe today?

Lake Oahe is at 1591.93 ft (NGVD29) as of September 24, 2026 — 25.1 ft below full pool — on the low side for late September.

Is Lake Oahe full?

Not quite — at 1591.93 ft on September 24, 2026, Lake Oahe is 25.1 ft below its full pool of 1617.00 ft (NGVD29).

How full is Lake Oahe?

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 Oahe?

Full pool (the conservation pool) for Lake Oahe is 1617.00 ft NGVD29, per USACE Omaha District / Missouri River Basin Water Management full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.