Lake Mead vs Its Record Low
Tracked daily from the Bureau of Reclamation gauge the record was set on — measured levels and Reclamation's published projections, no forecasts of our own.
Western Reservoir Conditions·Daily·No. 6··Latest reading
- Lake Mead is 0.55 feet above its all-time record low as of : elevation 1,041.13 feet against the record of 1,040.58 feet set .
- Measured change: -0.45 ft over the past 7 days, -1.35 ft over the past 14 days, -3.71 ft over the past 30 days.
- The lowest reading so far in 2026 is 1,041.13 feet on .
- Reclamation's July 2026 Most Probable 24-Month Study projects Lake Mead at 1,037.31 feet on December 31, 2026 — below the 2022 record. That is Reclamation's published projection, not this site's; scenarios and source PDFs are on the projections page.
No level in Lake Mead's daily record since it first filled has been lower than the 1,040.58 feet reached on July 28, 2022. This page measures the distance to that line every day, from the same Bureau of Reclamation gauge the record was set on — no forecasts of our own, just the measured approach.
The approach, 2021 to today
2026 against 2022, day by day
2022 is the year the standing record was set. The chart lays 2026's daily elevations over 2022's by calendar day — the 2022 line bottoms out at 1,040.58 ft in late July before autumn releases from Lake Powell stabilised it.
Lowest annual minimums on record
Each year's single lowest daily reading — the ten lowest years in the post-fill record, lowest first. The all-time record low is row 1 by definition.
| # | Year | Minimum elevation (ft) | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022 | 1,040.58 | July 28, 2022 |
| 2 | 2026 (so far) | 1,041.13 | July 28, 2026 |
| 3 | 2023 | 1,044.91 | January 1, 2023 |
| 4 | 2025 | 1,054.07 | August 1, 2025 |
| 5 | 2024 | 1,060.83 | November 27, 2024 |
| 6 | 2021 | 1,064.91 | December 2, 2021 |
| 7 | 2016 | 1,071.61 | July 1, 2016 |
| 8 | 2015 | 1,074.71 | June 26, 2015 |
| 9 | 2018 | 1,076.38 | July 11, 2018 |
| 10 | 2017 | 1,078.92 | August 2, 2017 |
What a new record would — and would not — change
Nothing operational is keyed to the record-low number itself. Lower Basin shortage operations are set annually from Reclamation's projected January 1 Lake Mead elevation against the fixed shortage-tier thresholds (1,075 / 1,050 / 1,025 ft), and the physical floors are minimum power pool (950 ft, where Hoover Dam's turbines stop) and dead pool (895 ft, below which water cannot pass the dam by gravity). As of the lake is 91.1 ft above minimum power pool and 146.1 ft above dead pool. A record low is a milestone of the drought, not a switch — the operating decisions ride the tiers, and the rules themselves are being replaced for 2027 (post-2026 guidelines).
More Lake Mead context: the main Lake Mead page · Mead vs Powell · the bathtub ring · full daily CSV since 1935.