Norfork Lake Water Level
Arkansas & Missouri · North Fork River
Full pool is the summer level. The Corps holds a conservation pool near 553.75 ft from October through April, raises it to about 556.75 ft in late spring, then eases back through the summer, so the lake works within a band of roughly three feet rather than a single fixed level.
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Water level history
About Norfork Lake
Norfork Lake is a reservoir on the North Fork River in Arkansas & Missouri, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It's a clear Ozark highland lake known for striped bass. Its full summer pool sits at 553.75 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Norfork Lake's water level
Norfork was the first of the four multipurpose projects built in the upper White River basin, authorized in 1938 and finished in 1944, with the powerhouse completed in 1949. It is a concrete dam 2,624 feet long with twelve radial crest gates, and its two units now carry a combined rating of about 92.6 megawatts, producing roughly 184 million kilowatt hours a year. Both units are being rebuilt under a contract running to 2028. Building it displaced about four hundred landowners around Henderson in Arkansas and Bakersfield in Missouri.
The lake has a small seasonal cycle that catches people out. The Corps holds a conservation pool of 553.75 feet from October through April, raises it to 556.75 feet from mid-May through mid-June, then eases to 555.75 through September before returning to the winter level in October. That three-foot band is modest, but it means the widely quoted 553.75 is the winter figure rather than a year-round target. Above it, the flood pool runs to 580 feet. Both of the big modern floods went past that: the record is 581.45 feet on 11 April 2008, followed by 580.62 feet on 3 May 2011. The record low, 509.8 feet in September 1954, sits below the top of the inactive pool.
Two fisheries define this place, and one of them has a recurring problem worth understanding. Striped bass are stocked here because they cannot reproduce naturally in most Arkansas water, and in high summer they get squeezed: the deep cool water they retreat into loses its oxygen, and when dissolved oxygen falls below about 1.5 milligrams per litre they die. Arkansas biologists documented die-offs in 2017, 2019 and again in August 2025, when they collected 555 striped bass averaging 28 inches over a two-week period. It is a seasonal, recurring feature of a deep stratified reservoir rather than a sign of something going wrong. Below the dam, the Norfork National Fish Hatchery has produced trout since 1957 across 96 outdoor raceways, some 500,000 pounds a year, stocking the Norfork, Bull Shoals and Beaver tailwaters.
Norfork Lake — frequently asked
What is Norfork Lake's full pool elevation?
It changes through the year. The conservation pool is 553.75 feet from October through April, rises to 556.75 feet from mid-May through mid-June, then eases to 555.75 feet through September before returning to 553.75 in October. So the commonly quoted 553.75 is the winter number, not a year-round target. The top of the flood pool is 580 feet and the top of the dam is 590.
What are Norfork Lake's record high and low levels?
The record high is 581.45 feet on 11 April 2008, which is nearly a foot and a half above the top of the flood pool. The May 2011 flood came second at 580.62 feet, also above the flood pool. The record low is 509.8 feet on 22 September 1954, during the mid-1950s drought, which is below the top of the inactive pool. The record runs from January 1945.
Why do striped bass die at Norfork Lake in late summer?
Oxygen, not temperature alone. Stripers retreat to deep cool water in summer, but in a stratified reservoir that layer loses its oxygen as the season goes on. Arkansas biologists recorded dissolved oxygen falling below 1.5 milligrams per litre in August 2025, coinciding with peak mortality. Similar die-offs were documented in 2017 and 2019. It is a recurring seasonal feature of a deep lake rather than a sign of a problem.
Are the striped bass in Norfork Lake stocked?
Yes. Striped bass cannot reproduce naturally in most Arkansas waters because their free-floating eggs need a long stretch of river before hatching, so Arkansas nets spawning fish each April and propagates them artificially, stocking roughly half a million fingerlings statewide a year across four lakes including Norfork. In 2021 a convoy brought about 220,000 fingerlings from a North Carolina hatchery to add genetic diversity.
What is the Norfork National Fish Hatchery?
A federal cold-water hatchery below the dam, opened in 1957 to raise trout for waters affected by dam construction. It runs 96 outdoor raceways, visible to visitors, and produces about 500,000 pounds of rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout a year, stocking rainbows at around eleven inches. Its fish go to the Norfork, Bull Shoals and Beaver tailwaters and beyond. It also propagates freshwater mussels.
Where do you launch on Norfork Lake?
Corps recreation areas around the lake include Bidwell Point, Cranfield, Dam Quarry, Gamaliel, Henderson, Panther Bay, Robinson Point and Udall, the last of these on the Missouri end. The lake spans Baxter and Fulton counties in Arkansas and Ozark County in Missouri, with the Corps lake office in Mountain Home. Striped bass under twenty inches must be released here.
Other lakes near Norfork Lake
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