WOW? Wind on Water effect?

Lake Tahoe Storm at Sand Harbor

We had some very high winds in the last storm in the mountains and apparently at Lake Tahoe, too. (BTW, the storm didn’t do diddly squat here in Reno and not much for the Truckee River either as far as I can tell, but more on that later).

High winds actually brought out surfers to Lake Tahoe and a photo in the RGJ showed them on their boards during the high winds (you’ll have to look around in the current story a bit to find the photo).

I’m wondering if those strong winds aren’t responsible for the interesting graph of Tahoe’s water elevation that the USGS collects near Tahoe City, CA.  First you see a very big increase in the level of the water level (2.4″ rise), followed by a sharp decrease of the water level by an even greater amount, then followed by a slower rise of more than an inch and then a gradual decrease.  Could it be that water is being pushed by the wind?  Then rolling back as the wind slacks off?  I’d be interested to hear from experts on this topic.

Lake Tahoe 'bathtub' effect from strong wind?

Lake Tahoe ‘bathtub’ effect from strong winds on December 11, 2014?

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About Dennis Ghiglieri

My concern for the Truckee River grew over the years. It started with picking up trash and supporting better water quality. I helped create the "living river"plan with other citizens on the Community Flood Coalition; a plan to reduce flood impacts to infrastructure through river restoration and protection of the floodplain. I understand how critical the Truckee River is to the environment – and economy – of our entire region. I'm hoping that through these pages we can all understand our connection to the Truckee River and why we need to protect it.