Lake Tahoe Inching Closer To Natural Rim

Federal Water Master Garry Stone says the lake this morning was about a half inch above its rim of 6,223 feet above sea level.

That means only a trickle of water is flowing from the dam at Tahoe City into the Truckee River.

Stone says the lake will fall below the rim over the weekend — two months earlier than last year. Last year the lake hit its rim on November 20th, but snowstorms raised it back over the rim on December 11th, where it has remained since. But after five years of drought, reserves in the lake that feeds the Truckee River — the main water source for Reno and Sparks — have dwindled.

Stone says a strong wind can evaporate more than a billion gallons of water from Lake Tahoe in a day. Annually, more than three feet of water is lost to evaporation.

Though rain and possible snow flurries are forecast for the weekend, Stone says it won´t mean much for Tahoe´s water level “unless it´s a really huge rainstorm.”