Live Lake Travis outlook

Never get caught off guard by Lake Travis.

Where Lake Travis is headed, day by day for the next week, then a month and a year out, with ramp, closure and dock-line warnings. Our own forecast model, updated twice a day.

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Now covering Lake Travis · more Central Texas lakes coming soon

Hourly

fresh data, on your phone

1 year

of outlook, day by day for the first week

681 ft

full pool, tracked live

Dock Watchlive outlook

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Why it exists

The lake changes faster than the news does.

Between LCRA gauges, USGS river flows, floodgate operations and county orders, the real picture is scattered across a dozen pages. Dock Watch reads all of them and tells you the one thing you actually want to know.

RISING

Floods arrive from upstream

A wall of water on the Pedernales or Llano can lift the lake feet in a day. See it coming, and check your lines before it does.

FALLING

Ramps go dry quietly

A summer drawdown strands low-water ramps and trailers. Know which ramps still float before you hitch up.

CLOSED

Orders you didn't hear about

County closures and no-boating reaches change week to week. Dock Watch surfaces them the moment they post.

The forecast

A forecast built for the lake itself.

Dock Watch runs its own forecast model, built for Lake Travis. The public sources measure the lake but don't forecast it day by day. The National Weather Service's page for its Lake Travis gauge says: "Forecasts are not available. Only observed stages are available for this point." LCRA posts each day's levels and month by month scenarios for the season ahead. Our model takes this week's rain and works out where the water will be each day, then carries the outlook out a month and a year.

THIS WEEK

Day by day, with a range

The model splits the watershed into the Llano, the Pedernales, Sandy Creek, the local creeks and the country above Lake Buchanan. Forecast rain on each becomes runoff, travels down its river, and reaches the lake on the day it would arrive. Live river gauges, radar rain and the lake's own rise take over the moment water starts moving, with Buchanan's spare room and LCRA's floodgates accounted for.

THE MONTH AHEAD

Where the level settles

After the week, the outlook follows the lake at the pace it is actually falling, or at LCRA's flood release pace when it sits above full pool, so you can see where it settles if no more rain comes.

THE YEAR AHEAD

What past years did from here

From the lake's record back to the 1940s, the model finds the years that sat near today's level at this time of year and shows the range of where they stood twelve months later.

NWS and LCRA pages last checked September 29, 2026.

What's inside

Everything the lake is doing, in one glance.

Built for the dock, not the newsroom. Every number is measured or modeled, and it reconciles with LCRA's own reports.

The outlook

A week day by day, then a month and a year out

Where the lake sits now, where it's headed each day this week and the band around it, where it settles over the month ahead, and what past years did from here over the next twelve. A plain English note says what changed overnight.

Ramps & closures

Which ramps actually float

Live status for every public ramp, plus county closure orders folded right in, so a ramp under a closure never reads "open." See it in the tour below.

Dock care

Line & hardware alerts

When the lake tops full pool or debris is moving, a dock-focused banner tells you what to check.

On the water

Water temp & wind

The real surface temperature from the Mansfield Dam buoy, plus wind and the week's peak gust.

Planning

How busy it'll feel

A five-week crowd calendar that blends weather, holidays, closures and flood conditions.

The full tour

Eight views of the lake, one subscription.

Every tab, pulled straight from the live app. Swipe between them on your phone; it all refreshes on its own.

The outlook

Level now, the week ahead day by day, the month and year ahead, and what changed overnight.

Watershed

Where the water is coming from: basins, rivers and radar rain.

Dock & crowds

Dock-care alerts and how busy the lake will feel, five weeks out.

Ramps & marinas

Live status for every public ramp with county closures, plus marina fuel, pump-out, rentals and hours by shore.

Fishing

What's biting and where, keyed to the level and water temp.

Your shoreline

Your own cove drawn from the 2019 lakebed survey: how far the water sits from your deck, and how deep it is at the end of your dock, every day of the week ahead.

Water & rescue

Live water-rescue calls near the shoreline, on the real lake map.

Alerts

Set the levels that matter to you and get a heads-up.

How it works

Set it and forget it. It updates itself.

01 / READ

Reads the sources hourly

LCRA Hydromet, USGS river gauges, NOAA rainfall radar and the county's closure notices, every hour, automatically.

02 / MODEL

Turns it into a forecast

Turns the week's rain on each river basin into runoff, routes it to the lake, checks it against the gauges and radar, and carries the outlook a month and a year out. It updates at 6 AM and 6 PM Central, and sooner if it changes enough to matter.

03 / REFRESH

Lands on your phone

The page refreshes its own numbers between builds, so what you open is current, with no app to update.

From the dock

Neighbors on the water, in their own words.

"I saw the rise coming Thursday, moved my lines that night, and spent Saturday on the water instead of under the dock."

Mike R.Hudson Bend

"Worth it for the ramp status alone. I've towed a boat to a closed ramp twice in my life. Not a third time."

Dana K.Point Venture

"During the July flood the crest call was ahead of everything else I follow. That's what sold me."

Carol M.Lago Vista

Pricing

One plan. Seven days free.

Try everything for a week. Keep it for less than the cost of one bag of dock hardware a year.

7-day free trial

$4.99 / month

Free for 7 days, then $4.99/month or $49.92/year

The week day by day, then the month and year ahead
Ramp & closure status, county orders included
Dock-line and high-water alerts
Water temp, wind, and the crowd calendar
Every tab, every gauge, nothing held back

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Good to know

Questions, answered.

What exactly do I get during the free trial?

Everything: the complete dashboard, every tab, refreshed hourly, for a full 7 days. It's the real product, not a limited demo.

Will I be charged during the trial?

No. Nothing is charged until the trial ends. Cancel anytime before then and you won't pay a cent.

How accurate is the outlook?

It's a model, so every forecast comes with a range, and the range is part of the answer. It starts from the levels and river flows LCRA and USGS measure, then works out where this week's rain takes the lake. Every forecast is logged and scored against what the lake actually did. It is an estimate, not a guarantee; see the note below.

Do I need to install anything?

No. Dock Watch runs in your browser and works great saved to your phone's home screen. There's nothing to update.

Can I cancel?

Anytime, in one click. You keep access through the end of the period you've paid for.

Safety

Dock Watch is an informational tool for planning around Lake Travis conditions. It is not an emergency, life-safety, or navigation service, and it should never be relied on for those decisions. In an emergency, or for official guidance, follow LCRA, the National Weather Service, and Travis County directly. Data from USGS, NOAA/NWS and LCRA.