Lake Tahoe Gallery

 

 

The Facts...

- Natural Rim: 6223' above sea level

- Surface area: 193 sq. mi., 22 miles long, 12 wide

- Shoreline: 71 mi.

- Capacity: 122,160,280 acre feet of water

- Depth: Maximum = 1,685', Average = 989'

- Surface tempurature: 41-68 degrees, with a constant 39 degree temp. below 600'

- If the lake was tipped over, its contents would cover California in 14.5 inches of water, while Texas would be under 8.5 inches.

- Tahoe could provide every person in the United States with 50 gallons of water per day for five years

- The sun shines an average of 274 days each year, but snow can fall during any month. At lake level, the area receives an average of 125 inches of snow annually. Higher elevations can receive an average of 300 to 500 inches annually.

- Lake Tahoe isn't a crater. It was formed by the movement of the earth's crust and volcanic activity only sealed the end of the valley, allowing rivers and streams to fill the basin.

- On average, 1,400,000 tons of water (or 1/10th of an inch) eveaporates from the lake every day.

- The evaporation alone from Tahoe over the course of one year could supply a city the size of Los Angeles for over 5 years.

- It would take 300 years of severe drought for Lake Tahoe to drain significantly

- Lake Tahoe is as long as the English Channel is wide. The Panama Canal, 700' wide and 50' deep, could be filled with Tahoe's water, even if it circled the globe at the equatoer, and there would still be water left over to fill a canal of the same size running from San Francisco to New York.

- Many drowning victims are never recovered from Lake Tahoe because the cold water at lower depths preserves their bodies, preventing the formation of internal gasses that would otherwise cause them to float to the surface.

These have been various pictures from around Lake Tahoe