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Lake Tahoe, CA: the rising

Sunset, Dec, 2004 by Dale Conour

Look at Lake Tahoe between winter storms and it appears calm, serene, a grand sapphire set in the rough folds of the Sierra Nevada. But no body of water this size ever really rests. In December, the lake's surface begins to cool; the temperature will continue to drop until it's the same as that of the deep water below. All it takes then is the winds of a strong storm to turn the lake over. By February, the clearer water underneath has risen and researchers can sometimes see a white disk lowered to 130 feet below the surface. But that phenomenon is becoming rare as Tahoe's famed clarity declines. The lake's outflow is tiny compared with its volume (it could flood the entire state of California to 14 in.), so it takes more than 600 years to refresh the water. Look at Lake Tahoe and it appears calm and serene, but there's a classic conflict of preservation versus development and recreation churning just below the surface.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY JUSTIN BAILIE

Lake Tahoe, CA: the rising

Sunset, Dec, 2004 by Dale Conour

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