Despite Dry February, Lake Tahoe is Rising! | Only 9″ Below It’s Natural Rim

The good news:  Tahoe is only 9.2″ below the natural rim (it was 11″ below the natural rim on Feb. 1st)

The bad news:  Average for this time of year is 28″ above the natural rim

More good news:  a big pattern change is currently forecast for Tahoe with lots and lots of snow and rain forecast this month…

Thanks to a strong start this winter, Tahoe’s lake level has been on the rise.  Experts are still concerned though about replenishing water levels with this particularly dry February.  Temperatures in the region have been between 5 and 14 degrees above average; despite this, lake levels are higher than they have been in a few seasons.

Tim Bardsley, National Weather Service Senior Hydrologist says that,

“It’s encouraging to have the last couple months be average inflow.  The bad news is we’re starting so low”.  

The winter of 2014-2015 was by far the worst on record- only receiving 5% of their annual snow pack.  Meanwhile the 2013-2014 season was the previous low record.  This is making it difficult for the lake to reach it’s normal water levels.

Although according to Bardsley, the lake is only 0.77 feet below the natural rim, which isn’t terrible, but for this time of year, the average is for the lake to be 2.33 feet above the natural rim.  Bardsley does not expect this year’s rainfall or snowfall to bring the lake back to a positive water level; however others such as Bryan Allegretto from opensnow.com  feel that this isn’t a big concern.  He says,

“A big storm in March and we can definitely catch up.  I’ve seen 100 inches (of snow) in a week.”