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Amazing Lake Tahoe

  • Lake Tahoe is the highest lake of its size in the United States and the largest alpine lake in North America.
  • Lake Tahoe is as long as the English Channel is wide with the width of Tahoe being half again as wide as San Francisco Bay.
  • With one dispersion of Lake Tahoe's water, the State of California would be completely covered to a depth of 14.5 inches.
  • The Panama Canal (700 feet in width and 50 feet in depth) could be filled by Lake Tahoe's water and extend completely around the earth at the equator, with enough remaining in the lake to fill another channel of the same width and depth running from San Francisco to New York.
  • An average 1,400,000 tons of water evaporates from the surface of Lake Tahoe every 24 hours, yet this drops the lake level only one-tenth of an inch.
  • If the water that evaporates from the lake every 24 hours could be recovered, it would supply the daily requirements of a population of 3,500,000 people.
  • Lake Tahoe's water is 99.9% pure. The water is so clear that a 10 inch white dinner plate would be visible at 75 feet below the surface.
  • There are 63 tributaries draining into Lake Tahoe with only one outlet at the Truckee River.
  • Lake Tahoe never freezes due to the constant mass movement of water from the bottom to the surface. In February 1989, Emerald Bay froze over for the first time since 1952.

Lake Facts & Statistics

Maximum Elevation: 6,229 feet
Length: 22 miles
Width: 12 miles
Maximum Depth: 1,645 feet
Average Depth: 989 feet
Shoreline: 72 miles
Surface Area: 193 sq. mi. or 122,200 acres
Volume: 39 trillion gallons or 122 million acre feet of water
Surface Water Temp: Maximum - 68 degrees F, Minimum - 41 degrees F
Temperatures at 200 feet: Maximum - 47 degrees F, Minimum - 41 degrees F