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Hydrology Metering

Sam Rayburn Dam · Angelina River · TX

Sam Rayburn Reservoir

The largest reservoir lying wholly inside Texas.

Water surface elevation

155.1 ft

Texas Water Development Board, daily · daily value, Sep 2

Water in storage

1.93 million acre-feet

Texas Water Development Board, daily · daily value, Sep 2

Share of conservation capacity

67.4% full

against the live feed conservation capacity figure (TWDB Water Data for Texas, statewide conditions feed)

Below full pool

9.3 ft

full pool at 164.4 ft

This month in the record

lower than 92% of the 61 Septembers on record

monthly mean storage; record low 427,737 acre-feet (1965), record high 2.89 million acre-feet (1991)

30-day trend

-4,107 af/day

storage, 2026-08-012026-08-31; over the year -514 af/day. Measured change, not a forecast.

Drought at the dam

D1 — Moderate drought

US Drought Monitor at the dam's coordinates, released 2026-08-27; the feeding basin can differ.

full pool 164 ftcolumn continues below155

67.4% full

of conservation capacity, by storage (live feed figure, TWDB Water Data for Texas, statewide conditions feed). Sedimentation slowly shrinks real capacity.

The water line is elevation (TWDB feed datum); the percentage is storage ÷ capacity. They are different measures — a reservoir's volume is not linear in its depth, so the line's height in this column is not the percentage.

The last 120 days

Daily water-surface elevation in feet. The axis hugs the data — it does not start at zero. Source: committed snapshot (TWDB, retrieved 2026-08-31).

154.7156.1157.4May 4Jul 3Aug 31155.2
See the numbers as a table
DateElevation (ft)
Aug 31155.22
Aug 30155.26
Aug 29155.30
Aug 28155.35
Aug 27155.39
Aug 26155.44
Aug 25155.48
Aug 24155.53
Aug 23155.57
Aug 22155.62
Aug 21155.67
Aug 20155.72
Aug 19155.78
Aug 18155.83
Aug 17155.88
Aug 16155.93
Aug 15155.98
Aug 14156.04
Aug 13156.09
Aug 12156.15
Aug 11156.20
Aug 10156.25
Aug 9156.29
Aug 8156.34
Aug 7156.39
Aug 6156.43
Aug 5156.47
Aug 4156.50
Aug 3156.53
Aug 2156.57

Most recent 30 days shown.

The whole record

Monthly mean elevation, Jul 1988 to Aug 2026. The axis spans the pools, not zero; elevations in TWDB feed datum. Months with fewer than 15 gaged days are dropped, and gaps in the record break the line. Source: TWDB, retrieved 2026-08-31.

monthly mean elevationpool reference lines
41111182Jul 1988Aug 2007Aug 2026full pool156
See the numbers as a table
MonthMean elevation (ft)Days gaged
Aug 2026155.931
Jul 2026156.831
Jun 2026156.630
May 2026156.331
Apr 2026156.330
Mar 2026155.831
Feb 2026155.228
Jan 2026155.031
Dec 2025155.131
Nov 2025155.330
Oct 2025156.331
Sep 2025157.330
Aug 2025157.731
Jul 2025161.531
Jun 2025163.730
May 2025165.331
Apr 2025165.130
Mar 2025165.631
Feb 2025165.528
Jan 2025165.131
Dec 2024162.131
Nov 2024161.830
Oct 2024162.631
Sep 2024164.030

Most recent 24 months shown; the full monthly series is in the page's API response.

Storage against capacity

Monthly mean storage in acre-feet, zero baseline. The dashed line is the live feed conservation capacity figure (TWDB Water Data for Texas, statewide conditions feed) — sedimentation slowly shrinks real capacity. Storage can legitimately rise past a conservation-pool line when the flood pool is in use.

monthly mean storageconservation capacity
01.5M3.0MJan 1965Nov 1995Aug 2026capacity2.0M
See the numbers as a table
MonthMean storage (acre-feet)Days gaged
Aug 20261,997,49731
Jul 20262,079,16231
Jun 20262,054,33630
May 20262,027,19431
Apr 20262,026,46230
Mar 20261,987,65431
Feb 20261,931,96128
Jan 20261,917,70831
Dec 20251,927,39431
Nov 20251,945,00430
Oct 20252,027,95431
Sep 20252,120,16030
Aug 20252,156,55531
Jul 20252,544,63031
Jun 20252,783,37630
May 20252,857,07731
Apr 20252,857,07730
Mar 20252,857,07731
Feb 20252,857,07728
Jan 20252,848,57831
Dec 20242,606,12031
Nov 20242,575,94830
Oct 20242,662,39231
Sep 20242,809,86130

Most recent 24 months shown.

Where these numbers come from

Readings at Sam Rayburn Reservoir are the measuring agencies' own: each value above names its source (USGS gage, Bureau of Reclamation daily record, Army Corps project data, or this desk's committed copy) and its observation time in the reservoir's own time zone. The conservation capacity figure is the live feed TWDB Water Data for Texas, statewide conditions feed number — its basis: conservation capacity (TWDB); sedimentation slowly shrinks real capacity, so the vintage travels with the percent.