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Creek and river flows near Incline Village

Right now. Incline Creek is running 2.3 cfs. Third Creek is running 2.1 cfs. Truckee River is running 75 cfs. Lake Tahoe stands at 6,226.65 ft. Numbers come from public gauges and show their time.

Incline Creek and Third Creek run off the mountains above Incline Village into Lake Tahoe. The Truckee River at Tahoe City is the only river that leaves the lake. We read three public USGS gauges and show each flow in cubic feet per second, with the time of the reading.

Checked 5:10 PM, Oct 16 Newest data 26 min ago Data freshness

A cove on the north shore of Lake Tahoe near Incline Village, with docks and snowy mountains behind.

Incline Creek

4:57 PM, Oct 16

2.3cfs

near Crystal Bay. Read 4:45 PM, Oct 16. Up 16% from a week ago.

Gauge: 10336700

USGS creek and river flowsHow we know

Third Creek

4:57 PM, Oct 16

2.1cfs

near Crystal Bay. Read 4:45 PM, Oct 16. Up 48% from a week ago.

Gauge: 10336698

USGS creek and river flowsHow we know

Truckee River

4:57 PM, Oct 16

75cfs

at Tahoe City, the lake's only outlet. Read 4:45 PM, Oct 16. About the same as a week ago.

Gauge: 10337500

USGS creek and river flowsHow we know

Incline Creek, last 30 days

Cubic feet per second, daily average

See the numbers

Incline Creek, last 30 days
Day	cfs
Oct 4	2.50
Oct 5	2.66
Oct 6	2.67
Oct 7	2.61
Oct 8	2.39
Oct 9	2.21
Oct 10	2.25
Oct 11	2.40
Oct 12	2.51
Oct 13	2.55
Oct 14	2.55
Oct 15	2.46
Oct 16	2.44

Third Creek, last 30 days

Cubic feet per second, daily average

See the numbers

Third Creek, last 30 days
Day	cfs
Oct 4	1.42
Oct 5	1.48
Oct 6	1.52
Oct 7	1.45
Oct 8	1.46
Oct 9	1.57
Oct 10	1.60
Oct 11	1.75
Oct 12	1.87
Oct 13	2.09
Oct 14	2.28
Oct 15	2.23
Oct 16	2.19

Truckee River, last 30 days

Cubic feet per second, daily average

See the numbers

Truckee River, last 30 days
Day	cfs
Oct 4	74.57
Oct 5	74.70
Oct 6	74.61
Oct 7	74.65
Oct 8	74.56
Oct 9	74.73
Oct 10	74.55
Oct 11	74.18
Oct 12	73.71
Oct 13	73.55
Oct 14	73.80
Oct 15	75.06
Oct 16	75.00

Why these three gauges

Incline Creek and Third Creek are the two gauged creeks closest to town. Both come down from the ridge above town to the lake. The Truckee River gauge shows how much water leaves the lake, which sits next to the lake level on the lake page.

Spring runoff

Snowmelt raises both creeks from April into June. A warm storm on a deep snowpack can raise them fast. After a big rain, stay back from creek banks. Fast water is cold and strong.

Low flows

By late summer the creeks drop to a trickle. A low number then is normal.

Questions people ask

How much water is in Incline Creek right now?

See the Incline Creek card above. It shows the flow in cfs and the time of the reading. Flow is lowest in late summer and fall and highest in spring snowmelt.

What is a cfs?

It means cubic feet per second. One cfs is about 7.5 gallons of water passing the gauge each second.

Where does the Truckee River start?

At Lake Tahoe. The gauge at Tahoe City is just below the dam. It is the only river that flows out of the lake.

Are these numbers official?

They come from the U.S. Geological Survey. The newest readings are marked provisional, which means USGS has not finished its review.

Forested hills and lakeside homes along the Incline Village shore, seen from the blue water of Lake Tahoe.

The north shore of Lake Tahoe with piers and boathouses along the water and forested hills above.

How to read this page

Each row shows the time of its own data. Where the numbers come from is in "How we know" at the end of the page.

Feeds on this page

USGS creek and river flowslimit 30 min
Lake Tahoe level (USGS 10337000)limit 2 h