Weather
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Wind and precipitation
National Weather Service
Use this page to decide when to visit the Ballard Locks. There is no dependable public minute-by-minute schedule for every boat. The vessel map shows AIS-equipped traffic approaching and moving through the Lake Washington Ship Canal; WDFW fish counts show the salmon run; NOAA supplies tide timing; and USACE publishes access hours, water management and maintenance information. The useful part is seeing those signals together.
Traffic caveat: the AIS map does not represent every pleasure boat and is not an official lockage count. Many small recreational craft do not transmit AIS. Use the map to identify trackable commercial and larger vessels, then use the camera and on-site view for the complete traffic picture.
Live marine traffic
Ships and boats near the locks now
Track AIS-equipped vessels in Salmon Bay, Shilshole Bay and the immediate canal approaches. Click vessel markers for names and movement details.
AIS positions can be delayed or incomplete and are for visitor awareness only, not navigation. Recreational craft without AIS will not appear.
Live decision inputs
What is happening at Ballard right now?
Each card identifies its source and degrades independently if a public feed is unavailable.
Puget Sound tide
Next turn
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Seattle station 9447130
NOAA Tides & Currents
Ship Canal level
Lake-side elevation
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USACE target operating range: 20–22 ft project datum.
USACE Water Management
Access
Checking hours…
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Grounds 7 AM–9 PM; fish ladder 7 AM–8:45 PM.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Fish ladder intelligence
Ballard Locks salmon activity
WDFW and Muckleshoot Indian Tribe staff count Lake Washington sockeye, Chinook and coho. Counts are preliminary and can lag the current date.
Sockeye
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Chinook
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Coho
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The displayed number is the latest published daily count, not necessarily today's count. The source date is shown so a delayed update is never presented as real-time fish passage.
Live view
Ballard Locks camera
The dedicated Ballard Locks Webcam channel streams boating traffic and weather conditions when its live feed is active.
Third-party live stream. If the embed is offline, open the Ballard Locks Webcam channel ↗.
Coming next
Tide timeline
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Other visual checks
Canal traffic webcams
BallardLocks.org points boaters to webcams upstream of the locks to help gauge canal traffic.
Open boater cameras ↗Infrastructure
Why Ballard has unusual data density
The locks are simultaneously a navigation system, a freshwater-level control structure, a saltwater barrier and a salmon migration passage.
Large lock
760 × 80 ft usableUSACE published available navigation dimensions.Small lock
123 × 28 ft usableSingle smaller chamber used heavily by recreational traffic.Vessel traffic
24 / 7Except chamber-specific maintenance or repairs.Lake level
20–22 ftUSACE operating range above sea level in the project datum.The Lake Washington Ship Canal and Hiram M. Chittenden Locks were completed in 1917. USACE identifies three core functions: move vessels between tidal Puget Sound and the freshwater lakes, maintain Lake Washington and Lake Union water levels, and limit saltwater intrusion into the freshwater system. The fish ladder supports migrating salmon.
Visitor timing
How to use the live screen
If you mainly want ships
Start with the AIS map. A named commercial vessel in Shilshole Bay or Salmon Bay is a much stronger signal than a generic traffic forecast. Keep the camera open while you travel. Many recreational boats are invisible to AIS.
If you mainly want salmon
Use the latest species cards and the data date. Chinook typically dominate late summer, coho build into September and early fall, and sockeye are concentrated earlier in summer. Fresh high counts plus an open viewing room are the strongest fish-viewing combination.
If you want the best overall visit
The go-now score rewards fresh salmon activity, usable weather, open visitor areas, available lock chambers and an upcoming tide turn. It intentionally does not invent a vessel count from the AIS map.
Grounds: 7 AM–9 PM daily
Fish ladder viewing room: 7 AM–8:45 PM
Vessel traffic: 24/7
Source transparency
Live data sources
- Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife — Lake Washington salmon counts
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Ballard Locks operations, hours and facility facts
- USACE — projected lock chamber closures
- USACE Seattle Water Management — Lake Washington Ship Canal elevation
- NOAA Tides & Currents — Seattle station 9447130
- National Weather Service — Ballard forecast
- MyShipTracking — AIS vessel map
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