Lake Tahoe fills by more than 3 inches thanks to weekend storms
With more than a foot of rain near Alpine Meadows, and six inches or more in areas throughout the Tahoe Basin this weekend, the end result is more than a 3-inch rise in Lake Tahoe thanks to the wet atmospheric river storms.
The series of storms sent an estimated 11 billion gallons of water into Lake Tahoe, according to the National Weather Service in Reno. Overall, the rain resulted in around a 3-1/3 inch rise in the lake level with the majority coming from direct rainfall on the lake versus runoff input to the lake.
In terms of volume, that rainfall translates to an increase of about 33,600 acre-feet, or an increase of about 11 billion gallons, according to the weather service.
For reference, that’s roughly equivalent to the average total consumptive water use in a year from the Truckee River by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority. The average metered household in the Truckee Meadows uses about 121,000 gallons a year.