The drought may or may not be over, but one thing’s for certain: the levels of lakes Travis and Buchanan have gone back up since the return of heavy rains over the Hill Country.

The recent low levels raised a question from a lot of people: Have the lakes ever been this low?

In fact, the two lakes have been much lower several times since they were created by LCRA in the late 1930s (for Buchanan) and the early 1940s (for Travis), as shown in this table:

*All-time low elevations

Rain (or the lack of it) determines the elevations of the two lakes, which serve as the water-supply reservoirs of the Highland Lakes chain by capturing runoff and floodwaters from Hill Country storms. Not surprisingly, the lakes’ record lows occurred during periods of severe drought.

All-time lows occurred during Drought of Record

The all-time lows were set in the early 1950s during the decade-long Drought of Record: Lake Travis fell to 614.2 feet above mean sea level (msl) in August 1951 (nearly 30 feet below its more recent low), and Lake Buchanan to 983.7 feet msl in September 1952 (more than 14 feet below its more recent low). Lake Travis lingered near its all-time low for a little more than a year until a series of heavy rains refilled the lake.

The two lakes again dropped to near-record lows during a drought in the 1960s, and they also dropped dramatically during droughts in the mid-1980s and late 1990s.

The recent low elevations may have alarmed many folks who, as newcomers to the area, had never seen the lakes that low. From 2001 through 2004, the region enjoyed four years of heavy rains, which kept both lakes at or near full elevation.

Check LCRA’s Web site for more historical lake elevations.

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Lake Travis March 2007

Lake Travis April 2007