Lake Kaweah Water Level
Lake Kaweah is at 599.20 ft today (Oct 31), 115.80 ft below its 715 ft full pool, up 0.18 ft this week.
California · Kaweah River
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Water level history
About Lake Kaweah
Lake Kaweah is a reservoir on the Kaweah River in California, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It sits at the doorstep of Sequoia National Park. Its full summer pool sits at 715 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Lake Kaweah's water level
Lake Kaweah is the reservoir behind Terminus Dam, an earthfill dam 255 feet high and 2,375 feet long across the Kaweah River in Tulare County, about 21 miles east of Visalia. The Army Corps of Engineers' Sacramento District finished the embankment in November 1961 and certified the project operational on 1 June 1962, after the floods of 1955 and 1956 pushed Congress to fund it. Full pool is 715 feet, where the lake holds 185,630 acre-feet, stretches about six miles and runs roughly thirty miles of shoreline. That 715 figure is new by local standards. Between 2001 and February 2004 the Corps cut back the spillway and set six concrete fusegates on it, each 21 feet tall and about 450 tons, adding roughly 43,000 acre-feet of storage. The gates are built to tip over one after another in a very large flood, opening the spillway the way a fuse opens a circuit, and then be replaced.
The level follows a hard annual cycle. From 1 November through 31 March the Corps must keep 173,630 acre-feet empty for rain floods, so the lake is pulled down to a small winter pool of around 12,000 acre-feet, with a minimum pool of 8,000 acre-feet. In the fall of 2022 it held about 10,000 acre-feet. Once the rain season ends, snowmelt off the Sierra above Sequoia National Park refills it, and the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District directs releases that are not for flood control. Those releases feed the Tulare Irrigation District, the Kaweah Delta district and the cities of Visalia and Tulare, and they peak between May and early August, which is why the lake drops through summer. The powerhouse at the dam, licensed to the Kaweah River Power Authority in 1986, generates from those releases.
Winter 2023 showed both jobs at once. In January the lake climbed past 83,000 acre-feet, and by mid February the Corps had released about 58,000 acre-feet in a month, much of it into groundwater recharge basins, to make room for a snowpack at roughly twice average. Then atmospheric rivers arrived. The lake rose nearly 20 feet in two days and reached 185,630 acre-feet on the morning of 16 March, and water ran over the fusegates for about 36 hours, peaking near 1,000 cubic feet per second. None of the gates tipped. In January 2025 the Corps drew the lake down again, from about 39,000 acre-feet, after a presidential order meant to send water to Los Angeles wildfires, though the Kaweah drains to the Tulare Lake basin and the water stayed in the valley.
Lake Kaweah — frequently asked
What is Lake Kaweah's full pool?
715 feet above sea level, the crest of the fusegates on the Terminus Dam spillway. At that elevation the lake stores 185,630 acre-feet. Before the fusegates went in between 2001 and 2004, capacity was roughly 43,000 acre-feet smaller. The spillway design flood pool is 747.1 feet, which leaves the dam crest at 750 feet with a small margin of freeboard.
Why is Lake Kaweah so low in fall and winter?
It is drained on purpose. From 1 November to 31 March the Corps of Engineers reserves 173,630 acre-feet for flood control, so the lake is held near a winter pool of about 12,000 acre-feet and no lower than 8,000. Summer irrigation releases, heaviest from May through early August, draw it down first. A low winter lake is normal, not a sign of drought.
When does Lake Kaweah fill up?
In spring, from rain and snowmelt off the Kaweah watershed in and around Sequoia National Park, once the November through March flood season ends and the Corps allows storage to climb. How high it gets depends on the snowpack. In wet years it can reach the 715 foot full pool, and in 2023 it got there in mid March, driven by atmospheric river storms rather than snowmelt.
What are the fusegates at Terminus Dam?
Six concrete blocks, each 21 feet tall and weighing about 450 tons, sitting on the spillway. When the lake rises far enough above their crest, water fills wells beneath them and pushes the first gate off its base, then the next, releasing flood water in stages. They were finished in 2004 and were the largest fusegates in the world at the time. They are meant to be sacrificed in a major flood and rebuilt.
Did Lake Kaweah fill in 2023?
Yes. After the Corps drained about 58,000 acre-feet in January and February to make room, March storms raised the lake nearly 20 feet in two days. It reached its full 185,630 acre-feet on 16 March 2023, and water flowed over the fusegates for about 36 hours at up to about 1,000 cubic feet per second. The gates did not tip, and the Corps said the dam was operating as designed.
Why was water released from Lake Kaweah in January 2025?
A 24 January 2025 executive order on California water led the Corps to begin releases on 30 January, raising flows from 5 to more than 1,500 cubic feet per second with about an hour's notice to local water managers. The lake held about 39,000 acre-feet at the start. The Kaweah drains to the Tulare Lake basin, so none of the water could reach the Los Angeles fires it was meant for.
How do boat ramps work as the lake level changes?
The Kaweah Recreation Area has two ramps and uses one at a time: a lower ramp, with a long walk from parking, when the lake is down, and an upper ramp as the lake rises and the lower lot goes underwater. Near full pool even the upper ramp, its parking and picnic areas can flood. Lemon Hill and Slick Rock also have ramps, and some campgrounds go underwater at high water.
Other lakes near Lake Kaweah
- Los Banos ReservoirCA
- Lake IsabellaCA
- Lake McClureCA
- Indian Valley ReservoirCA
- Millerton LakeCA
- Hensley LakeCA
See current levels for all 29 California lakes and reservoirs →
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