Facts about Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is one of the worlds deepest, highest, and clearest lakes surrounded by breathtaking forests and mountains with many waterways feeding into it, but only one river running out of it – the Truckee. More than 260 species of wildlife and 1,000 plant species live around the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Tahoe City is on the Northwest side, South Lake Tahoe falls toward the south east with the Nevada/California bisecting the lake in a line running north and south. About a dozen well developed ski resorts are situated around the lake and in the mild summertime these serve as camping and hiking paradise. The lake itself never freezes, so water sports are a huge draw.

Lake Tahoe Facts
The City of South Lake Tahoe is part of a broader South Shore community that includes California's El Dorado County in the Tahoe Basin and Nevada's Douglas County at Stateline/Zephyr Cove:
Population: South Lake Tahoe, including the Stateline area, has a permanent, year-round population of 34,000.
Sunshine: The sun shines at Lake Tahoe during 75% of the year, or 274 days.
Snowfall: At lake level, annual snowfall averages 125 inches. At alpine skiing elevations, the snowfall averages 300 to 500 inches each year.
Gaming: There are six 24-hour casinos in the South Lake Tahoe area. Together, they have a total of 7,051 slot machines and 411 game tables.
Skiing: Skiers can hit the slopes on one of the 182 ski trails in the midst of more than 8,800 total ski resort acres, and boasts Lake Tahoe's greatest vertical drop at 3,600 feet.

• Lake Tahoe is located 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, CA and 58 miles southwest of Reno, NV in the Sierra Mountain Range.
• Lake Tahoe is the North American Continent's largest Alpine lake and is 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, and covers a surface area of 191.6 square miles, and has 72 miles of shoreline.
• Lake Tahoe is 2/3 in California and 1/3 in the State of Nevada.
• The Lake's surface is 6,226.95 feet above sea level and the natural rim is 6,223 feet above sea level, making it the highest lake of its size in the United States.
• Mt. Tallac at 9,735 feet is the highest peak rising from the shoreline. The highest point in the Tahoe Basin is Freel Peak at 10,881 feet.
• Lake Tahoe is the third deepest lake in North America and the tenth deepest in the world. (Lake Baikal, in Russia, is the deepest at over 4,600 feet.) Tahoe's deepest point is 1,645 feet near Crystal Bay. The average depth of Lake Tahoe is 989 feet.
• The estimated 39.75 trillion gallons of water contained in the lake is 99.9 percent pure, with visibility to 75 feet below the surface.
• If Lake Tahoe was completely drained, it would cover a flat area the size of California to a depth of 14 inches, but would take over 700 years to refill.
• Lake Tahoe is, geologically, a "young lake" having been formed 10,000 to 11,000 years ago.
• Glaciers are responsible for carving out the broad U-shaped valleys that hold Emerald Bay, Fallen Leaf Lake, and Cascade Lake.
• Sixty-three streams flow into Lake Tahoe, but only one, the Truckee River, run past Reno and into Pyramid Lake.
• Lake Tahoe loses much of its water to evaporation. If the water that evaporates from the lake every 24 hours could be recovered, it would supply the daily requirements of a city the size of Los Angeles.
• Although the summer's heat can warm the upper 12 feet to a comfortable 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Lake Tahoe never freezes over in the winter; this is due to the constant 39 degrees Fahrenheit, maintained at depths below 700 feet, largely because of the constant movement and volume of water.