A winter of record snowfall in California, coupled with a triple-digit heat wave, is continuing to inundate Sierra trails and fill valley reservoirs with snowmelt run-off.
In a video posted on social media by a KCRA 3 viewer, ankle-deep water could be seen rushing over the rail to Wapama Falls in Yosemite National Park last week.
Summer is approaching in California, and warmer temperatures have been melting the massive snowpack dumped on the state over the winter. Several swimmers and kayakers drowned this spring as rivers flooded and raged. The National Park Service took the rare step of closing much of Yosemite National Park’s scenic valley for several days to protect hikers and campers from floods. In April, California snowpack was at 237% of the average.
As California trudges through its second year of intense drought, forcing local communities to raid contingency funds to pay sky-high retail prices for water supplies, Federal lawmakers are revisiting a deal with the City of San Francisco deemed to be “too-good-to-be-true.” A new bill, introduced by Rep. Connie Conway (R-Tulare), seeks to bring some equity back to one of California’s oldest and biggest water storage deals between the Federal government and the state’s historic big city.
On a ridge overlooking the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it would have been possible to see the first flickering flames of the Oak Fire and then how it engulfed its surroundings.
It took just 24 hours to mushroom to 10,000 acres and become California’s biggest wildfire this year.
“That’s crazy fast,” said Joe Amador, one of thousands of firefighters from across the state now deployed to fight the blaze.
Like a lot of the rural West, Yosemite National Park stood as a safe haven from the coronavirus. No park employees or residents tested positive. No visitors reported being sick. The fresh air and open space seemed immune.
It’s looking a lot more like winter in California’s parched mountains today.
Snow fell across the Sierra and in the mountains of Southern California on Sunday.
And, while the immediate forecast calls for a return of dry skies, the National Weather Service in Hanford says there is a possibility of rain on the Valley floor and snow in the mountains on Saturday.
The early March turnabout followed two months that set records for dryness in parts of the state.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
