Watts Bar Lake: Live Weather, Water Temperature, Lake Level, and Conditions

As of 9:47 PM ET on June 13, 2026, Watts Bar Lake water temperature is 85.1°F, measured by a WN34BL probe submerged off the dock at Tennessee River Mile 559.5. The probe reports every minute; this page refreshes the value while you're reading it.

As of 9:47 PM ET on June 13, 2026, reservoir elevation is 740.8 ft, pulled live from TVA's public API for the WBOT1 (Watts Bar) gauge. Summer pool sits at 741 ft. Winter draw-down is roughly 735 ft. The annual operating-guide chart on this page plots this year's actual elevation against the seasonal target from TVA's operating guide.

As of 9:47 PM ET on June 13, 2026, it's 76°F and cloudy at the dock. Today's forecast is a high of 89° and a low of 68° with a — chance of rain. Hourly and 10-day forecasts are pulled from Google's weather feed for Tennessee River Mile 559.5 and refreshed every 30 minutes.

— of Watts Bar Dam's 5 turbines are spinning right now, and — of Fort Loudoun Dam's 4 turbines upstream. Watts Bar's current outflow is —. Water released from Fort Loudoun reaches Watts Bar in 1–2 days. Generation and flow data comes from TVA's public generation-releases API.

Today's sunrise is at — and sunset at —, with — of daylight. Times are computed locally for Tennessee River Mile 559.5 (35.62°N, 84.71°W). The Sun, Air, and Moon section on this page also shows the moon phase, illumination percentage, and tomorrow's moonrise and moonset.

No active watches or warnings for Roane County, Tennessee right now. When the National Weather Service issues alerts (small craft advisory, severe thunderstorm watch, lake wind advisory, and similar) they appear at the top of this page above the forecast.

Current Air Quality Index is — . AQI comes from EPA AirNow's nearest reporting station. Watts Bar Lake sits in a rural valley with generally good air quality; the gradient bar in the Sun, Air, and Moon section shows where the current reading falls on the EPA scale.

The most-used public ramps are Tom Fuller Memorial Park in Rockwood (heavy tournament use), Kingston Waterfront Park on the Kingston end, Caney Creek Ramp mid-lake, Spring City Boat Ramp, and the Watts Bar Dam Ramp. Full list with addresses, parking, and trailer notes is on the boat ramps page.

Nine full-service marinas serve Watts Bar Lake: Blue Springs, Bayside, Caney Creek, Euchee, Long Island, Rockwood, Spring City Resort, Tennessee National, and Terrace View. Slip availability, fuel, restaurants, transient dockage, and pump-out vary. The marinas page has a detail page for each with verified phone numbers and current amenities.

Pumps are at Blue Springs, Bayside, Caney Creek, Euchee, Long Island, Rockwood, Spring City Resort, Tennessee National, and Terrace View. Diesel is more limited (Blue Springs and Spring City Resort are the reliable diesel stops). Hours change seasonally and on weather, so call before you commit a long run. The fuel page sorts the list by distance from your location and shows current dam-generation status, since active turbines change how busy the Spring City approach gets.

Lakefront TVA campgrounds include Fooshee Pass, Hornsby Hollow, and Riley Creek. Add Rhea Springs Recreation Area for a Rhea County campground with the lake's best public swim beach attached, plus the Watts Bar Dam Reservation. Day-use parks like Kingston Waterfront Park and Roane County Park have swim and ramps but no overnight camping. Full list on the parks & campgrounds page.

Watts Bar is a year-round mixed fishery: largemouth and smallmouth bass, spotted bass, striped bass, crappie, bluegill, and channel catfish. The fishing page has month-by-month patterns by species and a live "what's biting right now" callout that combines current water temperature with the seasonal pattern. Per-species detail pages cover technique, water-temperature ranges, and where on the lake to look.

The two designated public swim beaches are Rhea Springs Recreation Area on the Spring City side and Kingston Waterfront Park on the Kingston end. Sand Island in the mid-lake is the lake's anchor-and-swim spot, and several TVA campgrounds (Fooshee Pass, Riley Creek) offer informal shoreline access. The swim page shows current water temperature live, lists every spot with a map, and flags when the lake is at or near summer pool versus winter draw-down.

On-the-water restaurants include Maple Creek On The Water at Euchee Marina, Oakey’s on the Water at Caney Creek Marina, plus on-site kitchens at Terrace View and Blue Springs (Crow's Nest). Long Island runs food trucks on weekends. Land-side options cluster in Kingston, Rockwood, Spring City, Harriman, and Decatur. The eat page groups every option by area with phones, addresses, and Google Maps links.

Hail the lockmaster on VHF channel 13 as you approach, or call ahead at (423) 334-3522. The lockmasters are friendly and would much rather field a question on the phone than untangle a confused first-timer inside the chamber. Lockages are free for recreational boaters; allow 30 to 60 minutes if no commercial traffic is queued, longer if a tow is being processed. The full procedure is on the Watts Bar lock guide; Fort Loudoun Lock at the upstream end of the lake has its own guide.

Most TVA campgrounds, several marinas, and many lakefront parks welcome leashed dogs. Fort Paws Dog Park in Kingston is the dedicated off-leash facility. Some lakefront beaches allow dogs in the water seasonally outside marked human-swim zones; check the park's policy at the gate. The pet-friendly guide has the full list of dog-welcoming places on the lake with current notes.

Tournaments, festivals, marina live music, and lake-area events live on the events page. The big recurring weekenders are the Smokin' the Water July 4th Festival in Kingston, Loudon's River Fest in August, and Spring City Summer Nights through the warmer months. Marina nightlife (Crow's Nest at Blue Springs, Terrace View, Caney Creek) runs Friday and Saturday in season.

Watts Bar splits naturally into six regions: Kingston (Clinch-Emory confluence, public ramps, Long Island Marina), Rockwood (north-shore corridor, Tom Fuller, Caney Creek), Mid-Lake (Blue Springs, Euchee, Terrace View, Sand Island), Spring City (south-shore family-resort and Piney embayment), Lower Lake / Dam (forebay and operations zone), and Upper Riverine (Clinch and Emory arms toward Fort Loudoun). Each has different launch options, traffic, wind exposure, and feel.

Right here. We publish a free vector outline of Watts Bar Lake (and every other reservoir in the Tennessee River system) at /lake-vector/ and the full directory at /free-lake-vectors/. Every reasonable format is included: SVG and PDF for design tools, DXF for laser cutters and Cricut, EPS for legacy print workflows, plus high-resolution PNG in ten color combinations (black on white, white on black, transparent silhouette, outline only, brand teal, Tennessee Orange, and so on). The renderings are CC0. The one ask attached: the lake outline data comes from OpenStreetMap, and OSM asks that you credit them somewhere wherever you end up using the file. If you sell Watts Bar shirts on Etsy, a line in your listing description like “Lake outline © OpenStreetMap contributors” covers it. The placement is up to you. The Etsy listings selling the same thing for $5–$15 are re-renders of the same OpenStreetMap data anyone can pull.