1099.33 ft project datum (lake surface asl)
level 0.7 ft below full pool — on the low side for mid-August
Reading comes straight from U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System (USGS gauge 12452000) and updates live when you load this page.
Lake Chelan through the year
The band is the lake's own normal: where the level has run on each calendar day, 1980–2026. 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.
- 1981 (wettest on record)
- 1988 (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 | 1100.00 ft project datum (lake surface asl) · per Chelan County PUD (FERC 637) full-pool reference |
|---|---|
| Gauge | USGS gauge 12452000 · U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System |
| Datum | project datum (lake surface asl) — USGS 00062 'elevation above datum' reads directly as lake elevation (~1,099 vs 1,100 full). Full = 'maximum-capacity elevation of 1,100 ft' (Wikipedia, matching Chelan PUD FERC license range 1,079-1,100; PUD site is JS-rendered/bot-blocked). |
| 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 Lake Chelan right now?
Lake Chelan is at 1099.33 ft (project datum (lake surface asl)) as of August 14, 2026 — 0.7 ft below full pool — on the low side for mid-August
Is Lake Chelan full?
Not quite — at 1099.33 ft, Lake Chelan is 0.7 ft below its full pool of 1100.00 ft (project datum (lake surface asl)).
What is full pool for Lake Chelan?
Full pool (the conservation pool) for Lake Chelan is 1100.00 ft project datum (lake surface asl), per Chelan County PUD (FERC 637) full-pool reference. Levels above it use flood storage; levels below it are drawdown.