• Photo of the Upper Truckee in SLT at Highway 50
    Photo of the Upper Truckee in SLT at Highway 50
  • Photo of branch heading under road on the Upper Truckee in SLT at Highway 50
    Photo of branch heading under road on the Upper Truckee in SLT at Highway 50
  • Photo of the Upper Truckee in SLT near Highway 50
    Photo of the Upper Truckee in SLT near Highway 50
  • Graph of Lake Tahoe, height listed is above 6200 ft, natural rim in 6223.
    Graph of Lake Tahoe, height listed is above 6200 ft, natural rim in 6223.
  • Feet per second, water flow of Upper Truckee in South Lake Tahoe
    Feet per second, water flow of Upper Truckee in South Lake Tahoe
  • Height of Upper Truckee River at Highway 50. Red line is flood stage.
    Height of Upper Truckee River at Highway 50. Red line is flood stage.

The rain in the Sierra Thursday and Friday melted snow, sending the water down into rivers and the lake faster than normal. While the Upper Truckee River in South Lake Tahoe is over the banks and flooding the meadow, Lake Tahoe got closer to full.

The Upper Truckee is moving at 1960 cubic feet per minute, much faster than the 112 feet per minute just a week ago. It is also just over 11 feet in height, a few inches above the flood stage per NOAA-NWS.

Lake Tahoe measured at 6228.7 ft above sea level on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The legal limit is 6229.1, the natural rim is 6223 ft.

On this date in history, the fastest the Upper Truckee in South Lake Tahoe discharged was 747 cubic feet per second (2017) and the lowest was 44.1 in 2015 (based on 43 years of records)

Sonya Vasquez of the USGS Nevada Water Science Center told South Tahoe Now during the 2017 floods that the discharge volume of water is the “quantity of water moving past the gauge.” The gauge is located about 1/10 mile north of the bridge over the Truckee on Highway 50.

Vasquez and the Nevada team collect data that is provided to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to use in their forecasts.