Pyramid Lake is managed by California Department of Water Resources / Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Lake Insights displays its latest available elevation from California Data Exchange Center. Published reference elevations are listed below.
Lake Status
4.89 feet below full pool
−4.89 ft vs full pool
- 7-day trend
- Falling
- 7-day change
- Down 0.53 ft
- 30-day change
- Down 0.71 ft
- Last updated
- Sep 22 • 12:00 AM
Pyramid Lake is currently 4.89 feet below full pool and has fallen slightly over the past week. Readings show continued drawdown relative to full pool, with levels trending lower over the past week.
Watershed drought conditions
Los Angeles County, CA · surrounding county from lake location
No Drought
No official drought conditions.
Severity
Weekly trend
Stable
Compared with last week
Official drought
No
No official drought is reported for the surrounding watershed.
U.S. Drought Monitor · map date Sep 15, 2026. Updated weekly. droughtmonitor.unl.eduView drought map for Los Angeles County, CA
Key Facts
Waterbody / project type
Full pool
Current-level source
Why the level can change
General factors for reservoirs like this
These are common influences for this type of lake. They do not identify the cause of a specific current change unless an operator update confirms it.
Rainfall & inflows
Rain and upstream river inflows can raise reservoir levels, especially after storms.
Downstream releases
When an operator releases water through a dam, reservoir storage can fall and downstream flows can rise.
Flood-risk operations
Some projects store or release water under flood-risk rules when conditions require it.
Water supply
Some reservoirs support municipal, industrial, irrigation, or regional water-supply needs.
Hydropower
Hydropower projects may pass water through turbines when generating electricity.
Seasonal weather
Dry periods, heat, evaporation, and seasonal rainfall patterns can affect storage over weeks and months.
Published reference elevations
- Full pool
- 2578.00 ft
Published reference elevation. Not necessarily a fixed year-round target for every project.
Current data source
Managing authority: California Department of Water Resources / Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Observation source used by Lake Insights: California Data Exchange Center
Who manages the lake and who publishes the reading Lake Insights displays can differ. Lake Insights does not invent a source label from the managing authority alone.
General education
Shared background — not lake-specific facts
Lake Insights aggregates water level information from authoritative public sources such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA, TVA, Bureau of Reclamation, power utilities, and other official lake operators. We preserve historical observations, calculate trends, and present lake conditions in a consistent format. For California Data Exchange Center, we link to the official source whenever it is available. Lake Insights does not predict future lake levels unless an official forecast has been published by the managing authority.
Common questions about Pyramid Lake
- Who manages Pyramid Lake?
- Pyramid Lake is managed by California Department of Water Resources / Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Lake Insights reports published gauge readings; it does not operate the waterbody.
- What is full pool at Pyramid Lake?
- The published full-pool elevation for Pyramid Lake is 2578.00 ft. Full pool is a published reference elevation — not a prediction of today’s level.
- Where does Lake Insights get the level reading for Pyramid Lake?
- Lake Insights displays the latest available elevation for Pyramid Lake from California Data Exchange Center. The managing authority (California Department of Water Resources / Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) may differ from the agency that publishes the observation used on this page.