Truckee River level at Tahoe City
California · Tubing & floating
Measured at USGS 10337500 — TRUCKEE R A TAHOE CITY CA · NWS forecast point TRTC1
Reading taken · as of 18 min ago
Low and slow — expect to drag in the shallows
At 80 CFS, this gauge is running 32% of normal for mid-September — below the 252 CFS median USGS has recorded for this date across 117 years of record (1909–2026).
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Flood stages at Tahoe City
National Weather Service categories for gauge TRTC1, WFO REV. Impact wording is the NWS's own, verbatim.
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Major flood 9.5 ft
- 9.5 ft Major Flood Stage. Major flooding between Tahoe City and Alpine Meadows mipacting homes, bridges, businesses and infrastructure. near maximum reservoir release from Lake Tahoe. Most recent date of maximum full lake release was January 1997.
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Moderate flood 9.0 ft
- 9.0 ft Moderate Flood Stage. Moderate flooding between Tahoe City and Alpine Meadows impacting low bridges, landscapes and a few buildings.
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Minor flood 8.0 ft
- 8.0 ft Flood Stage; Minor flooding between Tahoe City and Alpoine Meadows. Some inundation of low lying properties incluidng crawlspaces. River level approaching lowest bridges where trapped debris could cause additional impacts. Extended portions of the bike path are flooded. Flow very similar to April 2018 and slightly below high flow releases in April 2017.
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Action 7.0 ft
- 7.0 ft Monitor Stage. Bike path and low lying areas along the river flood between Tahoe City and Alpine Meadows
- Right now 2.59 ft
Flow history at Tahoe City
Daily values from USGS 10337500, updated every 15 to 60 minutes; NWS forecast for TRTC1 reissued through the day. Provisional.
Highest crests on record at Tahoe City
7 on record
| Stage | Flow | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 9.59 ft | 2,690 CFS | Jan 2, 1997 |
| 9.32 ft | 2,630 CFS | Jun 19, 1969 |
| 8.84 ft | 2,450 CFS | Mar 13, 1986 |
| 8.47 ft | 2,360 CFS | Dec 26, 1983 |
| 8.45 ft | 2,350 CFS | May 21, 1996 |
| 8.25 ft | 2,220 CFS | Apr 26, 2017 |
| 7.98 ft | 2,060 CFS | Apr 10, 2018 |
Crests published by the National Weather Service.
About Truckee River at Tahoe City
Everything on this gauge is decided at the dam a few hundred feet upstream. The Truckee is the only outlet of Lake Tahoe, and the gates at Tahoe City — the ones under Fanny Bridge, where the tourists watch the trout — control what leaves the lake. So this reading is a release decision, made by the federal water master for downstream Nevada obligations, not a weather reading.
That has a consequence with no parallel elsewhere on this site: when Tahoe drops below its natural rim, no water leaves at all and this gauge can read zero. The record low in the statistics above is exactly that. The commercial tube float from Tahoe City depends entirely on the release being turned up, which is why it can be a good day here in a dry year and a bad one in a wet one.
Reservoir feeding this stretch
Flow here is set by releases from Lake Tahoe. A full pool usually means more water on its way down.
Truckee River at Tahoe City — common questions
5 questions
Why is the Truckee River at Tahoe City sometimes at zero?
Because Lake Tahoe can fall below its natural rim. The dam at Tahoe City only controls the top several feet of the lake; below that level there is nothing to release, outflow stops, and this gauge reads zero or close to it. It has happened repeatedly in drought years and is a lake-level fact rather than a gauge fault.
Who decides the flow, and can I predict it?
The federal water master sets the release to meet downstream obligations in Nevada, balancing storage in Tahoe against the needs of the river below. It is set by water accounting rather than by recreation, so it does not follow a published float schedule. The lake level driving it is tracked on lakelvl.com.
Does rain upstream change Truckee River at Tahoe City quickly?
Less than you would expect. Below Lake Tahoe, the dam schedule matters more than rainfall — a storm fills the reservoir first, and the operator decides when it reaches you. The river can come up on a clear day.
Is Truckee River at Tahoe City high or low for this time of year?
The USGS median flow for mid-September here is 252 CFS, from 117 years of record (1909–2026). Today is 32% of it. The comparison is what makes the raw number mean anything: the same reading is a drought on one river and a flood on another.
How often does this reading update?
USGS transmits from gauge 10337500 every 15 to 60 minutes, and the National Weather Service reissues the flood forecast for TRTC1 a few times a day — more often when the river is rising. This page refreshes from both when you open it. The timestamp is in the gauge's local time.