Kerr Lake (Buggs Island) water level
Roanoke River · Virginia · operated by USACE Wilmington (John H. Kerr Dam)
By Michael, independent developer behind zovo.one. Readings pulled live from the same USGS feed the operator reports to.
Kerr Lake (Buggs Island) is at 287.7 ft as of Nov 5, 2026, per USGS data; full pool is 300 ft.
Kerr Lake (Buggs Island) today: level, trend, source and access
Level against full pool
On Nov 5, 2026 the surface sat at 287.7 ft, 12.4 ft below the full-pool mark of 300 ft.
Seasonal guide curve
The Corps runs Kerr Lake on a seasonal guide curve: about 295.5 ft in winter, up to 302 ft in spring, and a normal summer pool of 299.5 ft (Water Control Plan for John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir, revised June 2016). The plan gives the dates of the curve only as a chart (Plate 1), and this site found no published table or data series of the daily curve, so this page does not compute a seasonal target for a given day. Compare today's level with those three values, and with the 300 ft line between the conservation and flood pools. Source: Water Control Plan for John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir, revised June 2016 (copy hosted by NC DEQ).
Trend
Between Oct 7 and Nov 5 (29 days) the level fell 0.3 ft, about 0.1 ft a week. The high in that window was 288.3 ft on Oct 16 and the low was 287.7 ft on Nov 5. In the last 7 days it fell 0.2 ft. The last 24 hours moved it down 0.10 ft.
Data source
The elevation comes from USGS monitoring location 02079490 (lake surface elevation above NGVD 1929, parameter 62614), last reported Nov 5, 2026. Feet from full pool, the trend and the figures above are computed from that reading and the published full-pool elevation; none is typed by hand. USACE Wilmington (John H. Kerr Dam) runs the dam on the Roanoke River.
Recreation status
Status: below normal. At 12.4 ft below full pool, expect closed ramps and exposed hazards. Call USACE Wilmington (John H. Kerr Dam) before you tow a boat there.
Check an elevation against full pool
For readers outside the U.S., the surface of Kerr Lake (Buggs Island) is about 87.7 m above sea level, and full pool is about 91.4 m.
Check any elevation yourself. Type a level in feet above sea level (a ramp cutoff, a marina mark) to see how far it sits below full pool and in meters.