{"date":"2026-11-03","title":"Early November: Sierra snowpack at 613% of typical","dek":"A daily record of the Truckee basin as of Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Same honesty rules as Today's Pulse. Forecasts stay labeled.","paragraphs":["It's early November, near the start of a new snow year, and Sierra snowpack is about **613%** of typical for this date, above typical for this point in the year. That snow is the refill that later shows up as lake level, river flow, and storage. It is the winter bank TMWA and the lower river still have to live on after the pillows go bare.","Tahoe sits at 6,226.53 ft, 2.57 ft under the legal ceiling, 3.53 ft above its 6,223 ft natural rim, high enough to spill into the Truckee. Pyramid Lake's USGS surface reading is 3,801.30 ft, the terminus.","Tahoe City outlet 78 cfs; Farad 396 cfs, water 46.9°F; the Truckee at Reno is **in line with typical** for this date, at 98% of the historical median; that 10-year median for this date is 421 cfs against a latest daily 411 cfs; Reno turbidity 28.0 FNU; Farad turbidity not reporting a usable live value.","The four upstream reservoirs hold 56% of listed capacity, Stampede carrying most of that volume.","NWS River Forecast Center outlook, not the USGS gauge: the Truckee at Reno is expected to reach 385 cfs by Tuesday, November 3 at 12:00 PM PST. Source: https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/TRRN2.","Beach postings are a separate clock from the river. Tahoe has a recreational _HAB advisory_ on California's map: Caution at Lake Tahoe Community College (Trout Creek), Caution at Site 13 (Tahoe Keys Lagoons), and Caution at Kings Beach (Lake Tahoe). That posting is a beach warning for swimming and pets, not municipal tap water.","Weather in Reno: 43°F, 0 mph wind.","U.S. Drought Monitor: worst of Reno, Tahoe, and Pyramid Lake is **D1 Moderate Drought**. Reno D1 Moderate Drought; Lake Tahoe D1 Moderate Drought; Pyramid Lake D1 Moderate Drought. That map updates weekly. A late August Drought.gov California-Nevada update noted that evaporative demand can stay high even when water-year precipitation is near normal. Independence Lake: The upper 28 ft is owned and operated by TMWA as Reno–Sparks’s drinking-water drought reserve.","NWS. Lake Wind Advisory.","The ground keeps its own count. The USGS catalog recorded 1 earthquake in the region over the last 24 hours.","No uncontained NIFC perimeters in this basin right now.","None of those lake and river numbers is a tap-quality reading. Reno and Sparks drinking water is treated river water. TMWA's published annual mix is 85–95% surface water and about 15% groundwater from 82 wells. Chalk Bluff is the main plant, 90 MGD. This site has no live tap-quality feed. This site has no live well-level feed. TMWA's mix includes about 15% from 82 wells, mainly summer peaks and backup."],"worthWatching":null,"caveat":"River and lake gauges and Weather are not in this snapshot. Those feeds have not updated recently enough to count as today.","glance":{"renoPctOfMedian":98},"pulse":["It's early November, near the start of a new snow year, and Sierra snowpack is **above typical** for this date.","Last winter is already in the lake, which is still high enough to spill.","That snow is the winter bank that later shows up as lake level, river flow, and storage."],"context":[],"generatedAt":"2026-11-03T18:14:29.809Z"}