When will Lake Travis be full again?
Lake Travis is at 680.09 ft — 0.91 ft below its full pool of 681.0 ft, a gap of about 17,190 acre-feet of water. Nobody can honestly date the refill — it takes floods that have not happened yet — but everything the data does say is below.
-0.42 ft
median forecast change
2026
July 19, 2026
13%
of all days on record
What a refill actually looks like
Lake Travis does not refill gradually — it refills in floods. After the July 4, 2025 storms it rose about 20 feet in three days and 38 feet within the month, from 637 ft to over 675 ft. A reservoir that had been sliding for two years recovered most of the drop in one wet week.
Between floods, the arithmetic runs the other way: evaporation and downstream releases outpace ordinary inflow through most summers, so the level drifts down until the next big rain on the Llano or Pedernales watersheds. That is why no honest site will give you a refill date.
The gap also shrinks unevenly. Surface area grows as the lake rises — roughly 19,000 acres at full pool — so the last few feet take far more water than the same feet lower down. Today's 17,190 acre-foot gap is what the 10-day forecast measures against.
And droughts end: the longest stretch Lake Travis ever spent below full ran about 7.4 years, from August 3, 1945 to January 5, 1953 — then the lake filled. The 87-year history shows every cycle.
Lake Travis water level — common questions
Is Lake Travis full right now?
Not quite — Lake Travis is at 680.09 ft, 0.91 ft below its full pool of 681.0 ft. In water terms the gap is about 17,190 acre-feet.
How often is Lake Travis actually full?
Lake Travis has been at or above its 681.0 ft full pool on 13% of the days in its record — being below full is the lake's normal state, by design. As a flood-control reservoir it is drawn on through droughts and holds floodwater above full only briefly.
When was Lake Travis last full?
Lake Travis last reached its 681.0 ft full pool on July 19, 2026, peaking at 684.71 ft.
When will Lake Travis be full again?
No one can honestly give a date — Lake Travis refills in floods, not on a schedule. After the July 4, 2025 floods it rose about 20 ft in three days and 38 ft within the month, while a dry year can pass with no gain at all. The 10-day forecast on this site projects the level from current inflows, rain and releases; beyond that, the record shows droughts of years (the longest stretch below full ran about 7.4 years) ending in weeks when the right storm arrived.
Watch it happen: live level & 10-day forecast · year-by-year history · the whole Highland Lakes chain.