Lewis and Clark Lake Water Level
Lewis and Clark Lake is at 1,208.08 ft today (Oct 31), 1.92 ft below its 1,210 ft full pool, up 0.04 ft this week.
South Dakota & Nebraska · Missouri River
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Water level history
About Lewis and Clark Lake
Lewis and Clark Lake is a reservoir on the Missouri River in South Dakota & Nebraska, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Its full summer pool sits at 1210 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Lewis and Clark Lake's water level
Lewis and Clark Lake is the last reservoir on the Missouri River. Gavins Point Dam, about four miles west of Yankton at river mile 811, is the most downstream dam on the river, so whatever the upstream mainstem reservoirs send down passes through here before it reaches Sioux City, Omaha and Kansas City. In normal operation the Corps treats Gavins Point releases and system releases as the same thing, and its 1978 water control manual says those releases are geared to navigation most of the time. The navigation season is measured against flow targets at Sioux City, Omaha, Nebraska City and Kansas City, and when support ends in late November releases drop to a winter rate that usually runs 12,000 to 17,000 cubic feet per second. That is why the lake itself barely moves: it is a pass-through pool, not a storage bank.
The operating band is narrow. The manual sets the top of the exclusive flood control zone, and the maximum operating pool, at 1210 feet, the figure this page uses as full pool. Below that, 1208 feet is the maximum normal operating pool and the top of the flood control and multiple use zone, and 1204.5 feet is its base, a floor the Corps adopted after long range studies showed drawing the lake lower was undesirable except on rare occasions. The manual describes regulation as remarkably uniform, typically between 1205 and 1210. Recent readings fit that pattern: 1207.3 feet at the end of November 2022, and the gauge on this page shows a recent low of 1204.69 in 2022 and a recent high of 1209.62 in 2024, when heavy June rain sent Niobrara inflows above what the dam was releasing.
The upper lake is filling in. The water control manual estimated sediment inflow at about 2,500 acre-feet a year, roughly three quarters of it from the Niobrara River, with a delta forming below the Niobrara's mouth and in the reaches above Springfield, South Dakota. The dam itself is a rolled earth and chalk embankment about 8,700 feet long, built from 1952 to 1957; the river was diverted in July 1955, storage began in June 1956 and the first power came that September. Its three units total 132 megawatts. At 1208 feet the lake runs about 25 miles with roughly 90 miles of shoreline. Nebraska biologists report walleye and sauger as the main draw, with four straight years of good walleye production, most of it natural reproduction, and they have found that high dam outflows hurt walleye numbers.
Lewis and Clark Lake — frequently asked
What is Lewis and Clark Lake's full pool?
This page uses 1210 feet. In the Corps water control manual, 1210 is the top of the exclusive flood control zone and the maximum operating pool. The lake normally runs lower: 1208 feet is the maximum normal operating pool, and 1204.5 feet is the bottom of the flood control and multiple use zone, so a reading near 1206 or 1207 is ordinary, not low.
What is the record high level at Lewis and Clark Lake?
The lake hit 1212.27 feet overnight on 14 to 15 March 2019, after Spencer Dam on the Niobrara River failed and sent a surge into the upper lake. The previous record was 1210.8 feet. Gavins Point opened all its spillway gates, with releases briefly reaching 100,000 cubic feet per second. The recent high shown on this page, 1209.62 feet in 2024, covers only the last several years of data, not the full record.
Why does the level at Lewis and Clark Lake stay so steady?
Gavins Point is the most downstream dam on the Missouri, and in normal operation its releases simply equal what the upstream mainstem system is sending for navigation, water supply and other uses. The big upstream reservoirs do the storing. Here the Corps keeps the pool in a band of only a few feet, typically between 1205 and 1210, and avoids going below 1204.5 except on rare occasions.
What happened at Gavins Point Dam during the 2011 flood?
Releases climbed to about 160,000 cubic feet per second in late June 2011, raised from 150,000 because heavy rain in Nebraska and the Dakotas swelled inflows to the upstream dams. The Corps planned to hold that rate into August. The previous record release at Gavins Point was 70,000 cubic feet per second in 1997, so 2011 more than doubled it.
Why is the upper end of Lewis and Clark Lake so shallow?
Sediment. The Corps water control manual estimated about 2,500 acre-feet of sediment entering each year, roughly three quarters of it carried in by the Niobrara River. A delta has been building below the Niobrara's mouth and in the upper reaches above Springfield, South Dakota, so the channel and backwater areas there shift and shoal, and navigating that end of the lake takes more care than the open water near the dam.
How is the fishing at Lewis and Clark Lake?
Nebraska Game and Parks surveys rate walleye and sauger as the main fishery. Walleye production was good four years running, mostly natural reproduction, and fish reach 15 inches by their third year. Channel catfish are abundant, with a fair share over 24 inches in 2024. Smallmouth bass are common, yellow perch have become established, and white bass fishing remains poor. Biologists found walleye numbers fall when dam outflows run high.
What are Gavins Point winter releases?
When navigation flow support ends, usually in late November, the Corps cuts Gavins Point releases to a winter rate, normally between 12,000 and 17,000 cubic feet per second depending on how much water the system holds on September 1. In dry years it sits at the 12,000 minimum, as in 2022. Releases are watched through winter because ice on the river below the dam can cause flooding.
Other lakes near Lewis and Clark Lake
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