Summer ends with Highland Lakes reservoirs high

Lakes Buchanan and Travis finished the 2026 summer nearly full after mild weather and moderate flooding on the Highland Lakes. Combined storage stood at 96% on Wednesday, Oct. 7. Buchanan held steady near 1,018 feet above mean sea level all summer, just under its full mark of 1,020. Lake Travis rose about 3 feet in less than a week, from 674.54 feet on Oct. 1 to 677.98 feet by Oct. 7, still about 3 feet below its full pool of 681.

That jump came from moderate flooding on the Llano River and in southern Burnet County around Oct. 2, the same runoff that led LCRA to open gates at Wirtz and Starcke dams and pass water into Travis. Nearly full reservoirs after a Central Texas summer have been uncommon lately. Storage often fell below average from 2020 through 2024, until the large July 2025 floods sent billions of gallons into the lakes and broke that dry stretch.