“That is a huge amount of water”, said Geoffrey Schladow of the University of California-Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. This is about 15 times faster than the long-term average rate of 0.018 per year, according to SF Gate. The winter of 2014-15 saw only 24 days where the average temperature dropped below freezing at the lake. While the second largest alpine lake in North America in one sense acts as a canary in the coalmine for the adverse affects of climate change, the warming trend in temperature also means the lake that is renowned the world over for its clarity could grow more opaque if the trend continues unabated. “The lake also recorded the warmest surface temperature a year ago with 53.3 degrees Fahrenheit”. As the lake was unable to carry out the process to its full potential due to warmer inflow of water, water clarity fell to 73.1 feet previous year.
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That’s according to scientists who study Lake Tahoe to produce reports on everything from water temperature to clarity to invasive species.
The report summarizes how natural forces, long-term change and human actions have affected Lake Tahoe’s clarity, physics, chemistry and biology over time.
The report was funded by the California Tahoe Conservancy, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Tahoe Fund, the Tahoe Lakefront Owners Association, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, the Tahoe Water Suppliers Association, the League to Save Lake Tahoe and the Incline Village Waste Not Program, and individual donations. This could alter the lake’s ecology.
The average low temperature at the lake in the most recent year covered by the study was 33 degrees. However, water clarity is still more than 9 feet greater than the lowest recorded average of 64.1 feet measured in the late 1990s.
Swimmers, look out! California’s Lake Tahoe may be getting warmer, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing for those looking to use the lake for recreation. Scientists have detected a daily air temperature increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit on the northwest shore of Lake Tahoe since 1916. For the scientists, this warning is one that is letting them know that they need to work to improve their efforts overall. The changes that took place in the Tahoe lake is due to the environment that surrounds it.
The lake’s temperature is rising at the fastest rate seen by scientists.
Colder water, from the melting of snow, is dense, so it sinks in the lake, Schladow said.
The UC Davis Tahoe: State of the Lake report informs nonscientists about the most important factors affecting lake health and helps influence decisions about ecosystem restoration and management within the Lake Tahoe Basin.
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Peak snow melt, the day when the streams flowing into Lake Tahoe reach their highest levels, is now the earliest since measurements began in 1961.
