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
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Drought Monitor · 27 October 2026
Weekly map · area in each categoryDrought status
16.3%
of the area in drought (D1 or worse)
Worst category: D2 severe drought
up 2.7 points on the week
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 capacityKentucky Dam
lowUpdated 2026-10-29· 101% of month avg
Wolf Creek Dam
Updated 2026-10-29· 97% of month avg· D1
Barkley Lock and Dam
Updated 2026-10-29· 101% of month avg
Laurel Dam
Updated 2026-10-29· 98% of month avg· D0
Green River Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 99% of month avg· D0
Barren River Lake Dam
Updated 2026-10-29· 87% of month avg· D1
Cave Run Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 101% of month avg
Nolin Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 100% of month avg· D1
Taylorsville Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 98% of month avg· D0
Buckhorn Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 100% of month avg
Paintsville Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 100% of month avg
Yatesville Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 100% of month avg
Fishtrap Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 99% of month avg
Grayson Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 98% of month avg
Carr Creek Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 93% of month avg
Dewey Lake
Updated 2026-10-29· 100% of month avg
Martins Fork Dam
Updated 2026-10-29· 89% of month avg
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