Posted on 03/28/2023 11:08:26 AM PDT by nickcarraway
long-lost lake in California may reappear after heavy rains in the state.
Tulare Lake, a freshwater dry lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley, dried up about 80 years ago. It shrank when the land was developed for agriculture and rivers were diverted elsewhere. It became farmland in the middle of the 20th century.
It has flooded occasionally since then, but this year is looking to be the wettest yet. California has been hit by severe storms in recent days, as well as throughout much of winter.
Forecasters have estimated there will be 4 inches of rain and 4 feet of snow falling on the state in coming days.
The wet weather is due to the influx of atmospheric rivers descending on the state. The state is receiving so much water that officials need to divert water to Tulare Lake in the form of flood releases.
This means the lake is set to come back from the dead. It may become so full this time that it stays that way for a long while. The lake last appeared in 1983 after a particularly wet season, before disappearing again.
While environmentalists see this as a rare opportunity to restore the lake, the wet weather is causing serious problems for people living in the area.
The rain is not the only thing causing issues—at the beginning of spring, snowmelt runs down from the Sierra Nevada. Snowpack this year has been at record levels due to the aforementioned cold and wet winter in the state.
Evacuation warnings are in place for the nearby communities Allensworth and Alpaugh as floods worsen.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Time for water skiers to emerge.
Well, the good news is that EPA will declare it an official wetland.
Tulare Lake has been gone since the late 1800s. 80+ years ago, it was only there because of flooding like now.
It used to be heavily used for recreation by Stanford students, but the boathouse and stands were torn down years ago.
Drought, flood, rain, snow, you just CAN’T PLEASE SOME PEOPLE....................
live in Visalia California (Tulare County) at the moment every canal and irigation dith is being used to move water out of the area. while tis year I dont think we will be getting a lake if we get as much rain and show next year the lake will reappear,
It’s weather — and we need to stop it from happening!
I sure hope the smelts do OK.
“Climate Change” is the ‘Emmanuel Goldstein’ of today’s political class.....................
Take a peek at a google map. The lake is smack dab in the middle of subdivisions.
When it dries out again it will be primo farm land.
Can’t have healthy outdoor activities, dontcha know? And the boathouse was probably racist. Reminds blacks of the slave ships. Not that any black alive remembers that, but they saw it on TV.... on Roots.
LOL...you nailed it!
It’s weather — and we need to stop it from happening!
____________________________________
The one thing you never hear about the weather is that it is very reliable in that it shows up every day.
Think about it in the past several thousands of years, weather has shown up every day. Talk about commitment and loyalty. You may not like the job it is doing but by God it is there doing it without complaint.
We complain about the weather all of the time. We blame it for our problems, especially the Democrats, as in global warming. But do we ever stop to think what would happen if weather began to call in sick or just not showing up. Pretty frightening, huh.
I think it time we all acknowledged the job that weather is doing for us everyday.
Earlier it was part of Lake Corcoran, a massive inland sea the size of Lake Michigan, that is now CA’s Central Valley.
CA will probably discover some new snail or fly, declare it endangered and divert water needed for farming to protect them.
I should say, much earlier, as in 100’s of thousands of years.
I was wondering if it would be Owens Lake. In the 1800s I have read it had a steam ship on it before LA sucked it dry.
The lake last appeared in 1983 after a particularly wet season, before disappearing again.
Good news although a bit out of place when it is being reported that 94% of the runoff from these rain events flows into the Pacific.
Yep. Lakes Tulare, Buena Vista and Kern were remnants of Corcoran.
I was born and raised in the Central Valley (Bakersfield), so hearing about Tulare Lake always interested me.
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