Good news, just in time for Memorial Day Weekend: The clarity of the famed, cobalt-blue waters of Lake Tahoe improved dramatically last year, with visibility increasing 10 feet from the year before, a study released Thursday by scientists at UC Davis found.

The jump is the largest annual improvement since measurements at the iconic Sierra Nevada lake began in 1968 […]

That work, highlighted around the United States in the “Keep Tahoe Blue” bumper stickers that adorn many cars, has shown slow, but steady progress.

The five-year average in lake visibility — widely considered an indicator of the Lake Tahoe basin’s environmental health — is now 70.3 feet, an increase of almost a foot from the previous five-year average.

Thursday’s news drew cheers from environmentalists.

“We are thrilled,” said Darcie Goodman Collins, CEO of the League to Save Lake Tahoe. “These results encourage us to continue restoring critical habitat and improving our urban areas to keep pollution from entering our lake.”

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