Grand Lake O' the Cherokees Water Level
Grand Lake O' the Cherokees is at 742.03 ft today (Oct 31), 2.97 ft below its 745 ft full pool, down 0.03 ft this week.
Oklahoma · Neosho / Grand River
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Water level history
About Grand Lake O' the Cherokees
Grand Lake O' the Cherokees is a reservoir on the Neosho / Grand River in Oklahoma, operated by Grand River Dam Authority. Its full summer pool sits at 745 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge at the dam and update hourly.
Understanding Grand Lake O' the Cherokees's water level
Grand Lake is a power lake with a flood pool stacked on top of it. The Grand River Dam Authority built Pensacola Dam across the Neosho, called the Grand River in Oklahoma, starting in 1938. Storage began on March 21, 1940, and the power pool first filled in April 1941. The dam's signature is a multiple arch section 4,284 feet long, and the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Every elevation GRDA publishes for the lake is in Pensacola Datum, a local reference that reads 1.07 feet lower than the national NGVD29 datum. A Pensacola reading of 745.00 is therefore about 746.07 in NGVD terms. The 745 foot mark shown on this page is the top of the power pool, the line GRDA works below. Above the dam the Neosho and its tributaries drain 10,345 square miles, which is why a big storm upstream can lift the lake two feet or more overnight.
Below 745 feet, GRDA runs the lake to a seasonal rule curve in its FERC license. The level sits at 742 feet from October through April, rises to 744 during May, holds at 744 through June and July, eases to 743 by mid August, and drops back to 742 by the end of September. As recently as 2013 the curve called for a fall drawdown to 741 feet, which FERC waived in 2012 because of drought. In its May 2023 application for a new license, GRDA asked to drop the seasonal targets and keep the lake anywhere between 742 and 745 feet year round to respond to grid demand and market conditions. The original license expired May 31, 2025, and the project has run since then on annual licenses while FERC reviews that request. Above 745, control passes to the Corps of Engineers, which directs releases through a flood pool that extends to 755 feet.
That flood pool is the heart of a long fight with Miami, Oklahoma, upstream on the Neosho. Parts of town have flooded repeatedly, most severely in recent decades in July 2007, and the city argues that dam operations make those floods higher and longer. An Ottawa County district court found GRDA liable for increased flooding in 1999. In 2018 the city asked FERC to make GRDA buy rights to about 13,000 acres outside the project boundary. FERC dismissed the complaint, but in January 2022 the D.C. Circuit sent it back, calling the evidence that dam operations caused the flooding powerful. On January 18, 2024, FERC found the project has increased flooding around Miami and ordered GRDA to acquire adequate property rights. GRDA took that order to the D.C. Circuit. The lake's highest reading remains 755.27 feet on May 25, 1957. Its lowest since the power pool filled was 713.41 feet on September 28, 1954.
Grand Lake O' the Cherokees — frequently asked
What is Grand Lake's full pool?
The top of the power pool is 745 feet in Pensacola Datum, which is about 746.07 feet NGVD29. GRDA normally holds the lake well below that, at 742 feet in fall and winter and 744 in early summer. Between 745 and 755 feet the Corps of Engineers controls releases, and 755 is the top of the flood pool and of the spillway gates.
What is Pensacola Datum?
It is the local elevation reference used at Pensacola Dam and in GRDA lake level reports. It reads 1.07 feet lower than the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929, so add 1.07 feet to a GRDA reading to compare it with NGVD29 maps or surveys. Lot owners checking flood elevations on a deed or plat should confirm which datum the document uses.
Why does Grand Lake go up and down during the year?
Under its current FERC license GRDA follows a seasonal rule curve. The lake holds at 742 feet from October through April, is raised to 744 during May and held there through July, then is lowered to 743 by mid August and back to 742 by the end of September. Rain can push it higher at any season, and above 745 feet the Corps of Engineers takes over.
Who decides releases from Pensacola Dam during a flood?
Once the lake approaches or exceeds 745 feet, the Corps of Engineers Tulsa District assumes responsibility for flood operations and directs how much water GRDA releases through the spillway gates. During the June 2019 flood, with the lake near 755 feet, Corps directed gate changes cut the release from about 145,000 to 108,000 cubic feet per second overnight.
What is the record high level at Grand Lake?
The USGS record is 755.27 feet on May 25, 1957, slightly above the 755 foot top of the flood pool. USGS daily storage figures show no later day topping it, though May 2019 came close. In late December 2015 the lake rose about 12 feet in three days to 754.92 feet, and the dam passed its highest recorded discharge, 236,165 cubic feet per second, on December 29.
What is the lowest Grand Lake has ever been?
The lowest reading since the power pool first filled in 1941 is 713.41 feet in Pensacola Datum on September 28, 1954, during the severe drought of the early 1950s. That is nearly 29 feet below the normal winter level. Modern droughts have been far milder by comparison. In 2012, FERC let GRDA skip the fall drawdown that was then required, to hold water in the lake.
Is GRDA responsible for flooding in Miami, Oklahoma?
FERC concluded on January 18, 2024 that the Pensacola Project has increased flooding around Miami and that GRDA must acquire adequate property rights, after the D.C. Circuit in 2022 rejected FERC's earlier dismissal of the city's 2018 complaint. GRDA challenged the 2024 order in the D.C. Circuit. A separate civil suit by nearly 500 people and businesses, filed in 2008, was still pending in early 2024.
Other lakes near Grand Lake O' the Cherokees
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