Lake Tahoe Facts

Surface Elevation 6,229 feet above sea level
Length 22 miles
Width 12 miles
Shoreline 71 miles (CA 42 miles; NV 29 miles)
Capacity 122,160,280 acre-ft. of water
Surface Area 193 square miles (122,200 acres)
Depth Maximum 1,645 feet; Average 989 feet
Surface Temperatures Maximum 68F; Minimum 41F
Only Outlet Truckee River at Tahoe City

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

If Lake Tahoe was tipped over, the water would cover California to a depth of fourteen and a half inches. (Texas would only be covered to a depth of eight and a half inches.)

The Lake is fed by 63 streams and two hot springs. An average 1,400,000 tons of water (or one-tenth of an inch) evaporates every day. That's more than is released through the Truckee River, or enough to supply the daily water requirements of 3,500,000 people.

While ice may sometimes form along the shoreline inlets, Lake Tahoe has never been known to freeze over.