How large is Lake Tahoe?

Lake Tahoe is about 22 miles long and l2 miles wide with 72 miles of shoreline. The surface area covers 191 square miles. Lake Tahoe is the third deepest lake in North America and the tenth deepest in the world. Its greatest measured depth is 1,645 feet and averages 1,000 feet. (In North America, Crater Lake in Oregon at 1,930 feet and the Great Slave Lake in Canada at 2,010 feet are deeper.) The floor of the basin is near the 4,580 foot elevation, lower than the surface of the Carson Valley to the east! Lake Tahoe’s average surface elevation is 6,225 feet above sea level, making it the highest lake of its size in the United States. Its exact elevation, controlled by a dam in Tahoe City, depends on how much water flows in from the mountains and how much is let out into the Truckee River.

Unlike most bodies of water in North America, Lake Tahoe’s water does not eventually flow into the ocean. The Truckee River, its only outlet, flows east through Reno and into Pyramid Lake in Nevada.

How cold is the water?
The water temperature near the surface generally cools to 40 F to 50 F (4-1/2 C to 10 C during February and March, and warms to 65 F to 70 F (18 C to 21 C) August and September. Below 600-700 foot depths, the water temperature remains a constant 39 F (40 C).

How much water is in Lake Tahoe

The water in Lake Tahoe could cover a flat area the size of California by 14 inches. This is also enough to supply everyone in the United States with 50 gallons of water per day for 5 years. And believe it or not, the amount of water that evaporates from the surface of Lake Tahoe every year could supply a city the size of Los Angeles for 5 years.