Lake Tahoe Clarity Improves In 2011

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Researchers at Lake Tahoe say the lake's famed clarity improved more than 4 feet last year from 2010.

A report released Wednesday by the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center says the average annual clarity of the lake was 68.9 feet. That's a 4 ½ foot improvement over 2010, when the average clarity levels were the second worst on record.

The report also notes that winter clarity last year continued to show steady improvement. But the clarity of the lake in summer months continued to decline as it has since the late 1960s, when monitoring began.

Last summer's clarity average of 51 ½ feet was the second worst on record. Scientists believe it could be due to last year's heavy snowpack and late spring snowmelt that washed sediment into the lake.