Live from USGS gauge 02393500
Lake Allatoona water level today
Today’s level against the Corps’ target for the date, how this year compares with every year since 2007, and why the lake drops 17 feet every winter on purpose.
Live from USGS and the National Weather Service
Lake Allatoona right now
832.78ft
2.22 ft below the Corps' target for today
USGS reading, Nov 3, 12:15 AM
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- Corps target
- 835.0 ft today. Summer pool is 840 ft; winter pool is 823 ft by January 1.
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Level from USGS gauge 02393500, Allatoona Lake near Cartersville, GA. Weather from the National Weather Service (Peachtree City office). Some live data didn't load; the links above have the official readings.
Where is the water?
When will Lake Allatoona come back up?
The lake is below where it usually is for this date. Here is what happened in past years that started this low, and how long they took to get back to summer pool.
Today: 832.8 ft, 2.2 ft below the Corps' target for today
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The lake refills every spring
818.9 ftThat's the lowest reading on the USGS record, December 14, 2007, in the great drought. By March 30, 2008 the lake was back at 840. Allatoona drops by design every fall and refills every spring.
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Years that started where we are
5 of 5years within 4 ft of today's level on Nov 3 were back to full summer pool (840 ft) within six months. The quickest was 2023, full by Mar 9, 2024 in a strong El Niño winter. The slowest, 2011, took 6 months.
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Winter is the low point, on purpose
Dec–JanThe Corps draws Allatoona down to 823 ft by New Year's Day and holds it there to mid-January, to make room for winter and spring floods. Low winter water is normal here, not a drought.
This year next to the closest past years
Daily lake level over nine months. This year in orange, from the USGS gauge.
If the next six months go like one of those years, here is roughly where the lake would be by May 4:
- Like 2023–24: about 842.3 ft, about full
- Like 2013–14: about 841.8 ft, about full
- Like 2008–09: about 843.7 ft, about full
- Like 2011–12: about 843.7 ft, about full
How the lake refills
Allatoona is a flood-control lake first: the Corps lowers it about 17 feet each fall to make room for winter storms, then refills it to 840 ft for summer. Since 2015 the drawdown is phased from early September through December under the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa water control manual.
What could slow it down
Dry months. When the ground is parched, the first storms soak in before much reaches the lake, and the Corps still has to send water downstream for cities and the river. That's why some low years in the table below took more than a year to fill.
Every year the lake was this low on Nov 3
| Year | Level on Nov 3 | Lowest after | Back to full summer pool (840 ft) | That winter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 831.4 ft | 826.6 ft, Dec 24 | Mar 9, 2024 (4 months) | Strong El Niño |
| 2013 | 831.0 ft | 822.8 ft, Dec 21 | Apr 8, 2014 (5 months) | Neutral |
| 2012 | 829.8 ft | 824.2 ft, Jan 11 | Apr 1, 2013 (5 months) | Neutral |
| 2011 | 830.0 ft | 823.0 ft, Dec 16 | Apr 19, 2012 (6 months) | La Niña |
| 2008 | 830.8 ft | 824.8 ft, Dec 27 | Mar 29, 2009 (5 months) | Weak La Niña |
| 2007 | 822.0 ft | 818.9 ft, Dec 14 | Mar 30, 2008 (5 months) | La Niña |
This is not a Corps forecast. It's what the lake has done before, recalculated every day from USGS gauge 02393500 daily means (the online daily record starts in 2007). Winter types are from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center. Corps operating rules are from the Corps of Engineers ACT Master Water Control Manual (2015).
The guide curve
Why the target moves
Allatoona was built for flood control first. The Corps of Engineers’ Mobile District runs it on a guide curve: a target level for every day of the year. In summer the lake sits at 840 ft. In fall the Corps lowers it so there’s room to catch winter and spring storms, and in late winter it lets the lake fill back up.
Since the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa water control manual was updated in 2015, the fall drawdown comes in two steps: a small one after Labor Day, a pause through most of fall, and the big drop from mid-November to New Year’s.
When the region is dry, the lake can run below its curve, because the Corps still has to send water downstream and Cobb County and Cartersville still draw their drinking water from it. The panel above compares today’s reading with the curve, not with summer pool.
Source: the Corps’ daily guide curve for Allatoona, published on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ public CWMS data service (series “Allatoona.Elev-Guide Curve”), read November 1, 2026. Levels are feet above sea level (NGVD29).
The curve, date by date
| Date | Corps target |
|---|---|
| Jan 1 – Jan 16 | 823 ft, winter pool |
| Jan 16 – May 1 | Rises steadily to 840 ft |
| May 1 – Sep 5 | 840 ft, summer pool |
| Sep 5 – Oct 2 | Falls to 835 ft |
| Oct 2 – Nov 16 | 835 ft |
| Nov 16 – Jan 1 | Falls about 0.26 ft a day to 823 ft |
Other numbers
| 861.2 ft | Record high, April 1964 |
| 840 ft | Summer pool |
| 823 ft | Winter pool (raised from 820 in 1968) |
| 818.9 ft | Lowest on the USGS gauge (records since 2007), Dec 14, 2007 |
Level questions
Is the lake in a drought?
This fall, partly. Much of Bartow County has been in moderate drought, and in late October the lake was running about a foot under the Corps’ 835 ft target. The outlook above shows how other years that started at today’s level turned out.
What gets exposed at winter pool?
At 823 ft the lake is 17 feet down from summer: points stretch out, humps and stumps come up, and some shallow ramps run out of water. Historically the Corps has closed Knox Bridge, Clark Creek South and Tanyard ramps for low water. Blockhouse is known for staying usable. Check the ramp page before you tow.
Does the lake ever go above 840?
Yes, after big rain. The space above 840 is flood storage, and the Corps lets the water out over the following days or weeks. After Hurricane Helene in 2024 the lake sat about 2.5 ft above full, and high water can close ramps and campgrounds too.
Where does this number come from?
USGS gauge 02393500, Allatoona Lake near Cartersville. Readings are provisional and update about every 15 minutes. The Corps publishes its own pool reading; the two normally agree within a few hundredths of a foot.