Weekend on the Lakes: Light Wind, Cool Mornings and Warm Afternoons
What is the weekend boating forecast for Lake Eufaula, West Point Lake and Lake Harding?
Saturday and Sunday bring calm to 5 mph wind and no meaningful rain chance on all three lakes, with mornings near 56 to 64 degrees and afternoons in the low to mid 80s, warmest at Lake Eufaula.
Photo: Sharath G. / Pexels
The number that matters this weekend is the wind, and it barely registers. At Lake Harding, West Point Lake and Lake Eufaula, the forecast tops out at 5 mph both Saturday and Sunday, and several of those readings are flat calm. A small boat starts taking a beating once the wind gets past about 15 mph. Nothing close to that is in the forecast, so a 14-footer will ride as comfortably as a pontoon.
The second thing to plan for is the spread between dawn and mid-afternoon. On Saturday the air goes from the upper 50s at 8 AM to the low 80s by 2 PM at most of these lakes, a swing of roughly 25 degrees in six hours. Dress for the first hour and you will be overdressed by mid-morning.
On Lake Harding, the reservoir on the Chattahoochee north of Columbus that straddles the Georgia-Alabama line, Saturday begins at 58 degrees under a calm, sunny sky and reaches 81 by 2 PM with a 5 mph breeze. Sunday is a carbon copy one degree warmer in the morning, 59 at 8 AM and 81 in the afternoon under mostly sunny sky. Rain chance both days: zero.
West Point Lake, between LaGrange and West Point, has the coldest starts in the area. Saturday morning is 56 degrees at 8 AM with the water dead calm and full sun, warming to 81 by 2 PM with no wind at all. Sunday runs 57 in the morning and 81 in the afternoon with a light 5 mph breeze and a mostly sunny sky. A dock at first light up there will feel more like October than September.
Lake Eufaula is the warm end of the Valley at both hours. Saturday morning at 8 AM is 62 degrees and sunny, and the afternoon reaches 84. Sunday is warmer still, 64 in the morning and 85 by 2 PM under mostly sunny skies, with a rain chance of 1 percent, which is another way of saying no.
One note on the water itself. Over the seven days through September 23, flow on the Chattahoochee River in Columbus averaged about 4,500 cubic feet per second at the 14th Street gauge, compared with a normal of roughly 2,900 for those dates, and the river at West Point ran a similar amount above its own average. Below Lake Eufaula near Columbia, Alabama, the week averaged about 4,800, essentially right at normal. All three still fall in the range the U.S. Geological Survey calls about normal for late September, because the dams release in pulses for power and a single reading swings wildly through the day.
What to take: a fleece or a light jacket you can peel off by mid-morning, a hat and sunscreen for an afternoon with almost no cloud cover, and more drinking water than a 60-degree sunrise makes you think you need. If you want the smoothest water and the quietest air, be on it before 9 AM Saturday.
Lake by lake this weekend
Each day, 8 AM → 2 PM.
Lake Harding
north of Columbus, on the Georgia-Alabama line
Sat58°→81°
Sun59°→81°
Mostly Sunny · Dry · Wind up to 5 mph
West Point Lake
LaGrange and West Point
Sat56°→81°
Sun57°→81°
Mostly Sunny · Dry · Wind up to 5 mph
Lake Eufaula
Eufaula
Sat62°→84°
Sun64°→85°
Mostly Sunny · 1% chance of rain · Wind up to 5 mph
Forecast: National Weather Service, at each place. Wind and rain are the highest of the readings shown.
Right now in Columbus, Georgia
71°Temperature
65°Dew point
81%Humidity
5 mphWind — northeast
30.10"Pressure
The next seven days
Day
High
Low
Rain
Conditions
TONIGHT
—
61°
0%
Partly Cloudy
FRI
82°
59°
0%
Sunny
SAT
86°
59°
0%
Sunny
SUN
86°
59°
0%
Mostly Sunny
MON
89°
61°
1%
Sunny
TUE
91°
65°
1%
Sunny
WED
92°
68°
17%
Sunny then Slight Chance Showers And Thunderstorms
Written by the CNAW 2 weather desk from CNAW 2 weather desk data. Last updated September 24, 2026 at 7:24 PM Eastern. Covering Columbus and Phenix City, Auburn–Opelika, LaGrange, Eufaula and the rest of the 19-county CNAW viewing area.
