State · United States · USGS · BOR · USACE · CDEC
Tennessee
81.3% average fill
Measured
6
Volume stored
3,940 hm³
Measured capacity
4,848 hm³
Below month average
5 of 6
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Drought Monitor · 27 October 2026
Weekly map · area in each categoryDrought status
70.9%
of the area in drought (D1 or worse)
Worst category: D4 exceptional drought
up 6.7 points on the week
Severe or worse (D2+)
59.2%
Extreme or worse (D3+)
38.6%
DSCI
2620–500
People in drought
4.2 million
Reservoirs (reservoirs.earth)
81.3% full6 tracked
Reservoirs on drought ground
6 of 66 in D2 or worse
As of the 27 October 2026 U.S. Drought Monitor map, 70.9% of Tennessee was in drought (D1 or worse), with 38.6% in extreme or exceptional drought (D3–D4). The 6 reservoirs we track in Tennessee were 81.3% full on their latest readings. 6 of 6 tracked reservoir sites sit inside the drought area, 6 of them in severe drought (D2) or worse.
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 capacityCenter Hill Dam
Updated 2026-10-30· 99% of month avg· D2
Dale Hollow Dam
Updated 2026-10-30· 98% of month avg· D2
J Percy Priest Dam
Updated 2026-10-30· 99% of month avg· D3
Old Hickory Lock and Dam
Updated 2026-10-30· 102% of month avg· D3
Cordell Hull Lock and Dam
Updated 2026-10-30· 97% of month avg· D2
Cheatham Dam
Updated 2026-10-30· 96% of month avg· D3
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 Tennessee
As of October 30, 2026, the reservoirs we track across Tennessee that report live levels hold roughly 3,940 hm³ of water — about 81.3% of their combined capacity. Taken together, Tennessee's reservoirs are high.
None of the tracked reservoirs are currently at critically low levels. Old Hickory Lock and Dam is the fullest at 99.3%, while Dale Hollow Dam is the lowest at 77.5%.
Over the most recent week on record, 1 reservoir rose and 1 reservoir fell across Tennessee.
Storage figures for Tennessee come from USGS · USACE · BOR · CDEC; the most recent reading is from October 30, 2026. Each reservoir below links to its own page with full history and seasonal context.
Tennessee at a glance
- Reservoirs tracked
- 6
- Average fill
- 81.3%
- Water stored
- 3,940 hm³
- Combined capacity
- 4,848 hm³
- Fullest
- Old Hickory Lock and Dam (99.3%)
- Lowest
- Dale Hollow Dam (77.5%)
- Last updated
- October 30, 2026