#LakeTahoe #LakeTahoeFacts
What Makes Lake Tahoe Special? Fun Facts Lake Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe, also known as “the Jewel of the Sierras”, “The Lake of the Sky” and “Big Blue”, is a natural wonder of the American West. What makes it special? Here are some fun facts about this amazing lake.
Lake Tahoe is one of the prettiest lakes in the US. It is located 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, CA. and 58 miles southwest of Reno, Nevada. Twothirds of it is located in California and onethird in the state of Nevada and it’s surrounded by the snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It’s the largest alpine lake in North America. It's 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, and covers a surface area of 191.6 square miles, and has 72 miles of shoreline. It is the second deepest in the US, third deepest lake in North America and the tenth deepest in the world. It’s depth is 1645 feet, whereas the deepest lake in the world is Lake Baikal in Russia with over 4600 feet depth.
The water in the lake is almost as pure as drinking water.The water is 99.994% pure and considered one of the purest and cleanest bodies of water in the world. Commercially distilled water is 99.998% pure. In fact, several Nevada communities pump drinking water right out of the lake, because the water is so good.
Estimated that the Lake is over 2 million years old, it’s considered an ancient lake and is counted among the 20 oldest lakes in the world.
The main body of Lake Tahoe does not freeze, this is due to the constant 39 degrees Fahrenheit maintained at depths below 600 feet, largely because of the constant movement and volume of water. Some parts of the lake like Emerald Bay on the south end of the lake, routinely freezes over, although not to a great depth.
The summer’s heat can warm the upper 12 feet of the lake to a comfortable 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
The average depth of the lake is 1000 feet.
The lake is known for its phenomenal clarity. Scientists started measuring Lake Tahoe’s water clarity in 1968 and have been doing so for decades. Clarity is measured as the depth to which a 10inch white disk remains visible when lowered into the water. In 1968 one could see it submerged to a depth of 100 feet.Since then the clarity has dropped to around 70 feet and the lowest value was recorded in 2017, when clarity was around 60 feet.
When we visited lake Tahoe we were impressed by its blue color. Not surprising that one of its nicknames is “Big Blue”. For decades people believed that the lake's blueness is tied to clarity of the lake or the color from the sky. Recently scientists discovered that blueness is controlled by algal concentration, which in turn is driven by the level of nutrients available to the algae. The less nutrients available in the water, the less algae, and the bluer the lake looks.

The average daily evaporation from the lake would meet the daily water needs of over 3 million of Americans.
The Lake holds about 39 trillion gallons of water, enough to cover the state of California to a depth of 14 and a half inches.