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Typical January weather

South Lake Tahoe

California · January

Deep winter — check the pass before you leave home.

43° days
18° nights

about 9 rainy or snowy days · 10 hours of daylight

What to pack

What January feels like

January is chain-control season on Highway 50 and Echo Summit, and the drive up from Sacramento can go from clear to closed in an hour. The nights are hard cold, nearly every one of them, and the lake itself never freezes — a fact locals never stop mentioning.

Expect about 9 days with something falling — rain, snow, or the sloppy mix in between. Nearly every night dips below freezing.

The numbers

Typical high43°
Typical low18°
Days with rain or snow9
Rain or melted snow2.8 in
Sunrise / sunset (mid-month)7:16 am / 5:01 pm

How January compares

See the whole year in South Lake Tahoe ›