← United States

State · United States · USGS · BOR · USACE · CDEC

Kentucky

52.6% average fill

Measured

17

Volume stored

8,527 hm³

Measured capacity

16,217 hm³

Low level

1

Below month average

9 of 17

Loading map…

Drought Monitor · 27 October 2026

Weekly map · area in each category

Drought status

16.3%

of the area in drought (D1 or worse)

Worst category: D2 severe drought

up 2.7 points on the week

D0 38.7%D1 14%D2 2.3%D3 0%D4 0%

Severe or worse (D2+)

2.3%

Extreme or worse (D3+)

0.0%

DSCI

740–500

People in drought

393,000

Reservoirs (reservoirs.earth)

52.6% full17 tracked

Reservoirs on drought ground

3 of 17

As of the 27 October 2026 U.S. Drought Monitor map, 16.3% of Kentucky was in drought (D1 or worse). The 17 reservoirs we track in Kentucky were 52.6% full on their latest readings. 3 of 17 tracked reservoir sites sit inside the drought area.

The Drought Monitor maps where conditions are dry this week — rainfall, soil moisture, streamflow — not how much water is stored. Reservoir storage lags it by months, so a region can be in drought with full reservoirs, or out of drought with empty ones. Source: droughtmonitor.unl.edu. The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC.

Reservoirs

Sorted by capacity

Storage from official US gauges (USGS, USACE, Bureau of Reclamation, CDEC) and, in Texas, the Texas Water Development Board. Fill % uses design capacity from the National Inventory of Dams where available; Water Data for Texas lakes use that board's conservation capacity; a few sites without a match fall back to the 5-year maximum. "% of month avg" compares the current fill with the reservoir’s own average for this calendar month over its readings on record. D0–D4 is the U.S. Drought Monitor category of the ground at the reservoir’s coordinates on the latest weekly map — local conditions, not storage.

About reservoirs in Kentucky

As of October 29, 2026, the reservoirs we track across Kentucky that report live levels hold roughly 8,527 hm³ of water — about 52.6% of their combined capacity. Taken together, Kentucky's reservoirs are within their normal operating range.

Across the region, 1 is low. Paintsville Lake is the fullest at 99.1%, while Kentucky Dam is the lowest at 36.6%.

Over the most recent week on record, 5 reservoirs fell across Kentucky.

Storage figures for Kentucky come from USGS · USACE · BOR · CDEC; the most recent reading is from October 29, 2026. Each reservoir below links to its own page with full history and seasonal context.

Kentucky at a glance

Reservoirs tracked
17
Average fill
52.6%
Water stored
8,527 hm³
Combined capacity
16,217 hm³
Fullest
Paintsville Lake (99.1%)
Lowest
Kentucky Dam (36.6%)
Last updated
October 29, 2026
ShareXLinkedInWhatsApp