Drought-Busting Snow Pushes Tahoe To Highest Mark Since 2006

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- The drought-busting snow and rain in the mountains around Lake Tahoe have pushed the lake to its highest level in more than a decade.

After suffering through five consecutive years of drought, hydrologists say the alpine lake atop the Sierra now has enough water to fill downstream reservoirs and meet the Reno-area's needs for at least two years.

Truckee Meadows Water Authority hydrologist Bill Hauck says the water outlook has basically gone from one extreme to the other in just two years.

Scientists are scheduled to release the results of the latest Sierra snowpack surveys on Wednesday. As of Feb. 1, the Tahoe Basin snowpack was 233 percent of normal.

Hauck told the Reno Gazette-Journal it's a "foregone conclusion" the lake reach its storage limit level in the weeks ahead for the first time since 2006.