Long-Lost Lake Set To Emerge After California Rains

A 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.

The Army Corps of Engineers is releasing the water to Tulare Lake from Pine Flat dam, local media reported. The water from the dam usually diverts to the North Channel, which lies towards Firebaugh and the San Joaquin river. However, this is now full.

This means water will likely be released into Tulare Lake until the summer.

California's recent spate of wet weather started in late December and continued through mid-January. At the end of February, the state was hit by strong snowstorms, even in areas used to bone-dry conditions such as Los Angeles.

The wet weather is causing problems largely because the state has been gripped by a drought for years.

In February, drought conditions did improve across much of the state, after such a heavy amount of rainfall.

However, when land has been in drought conditions for so long, the ground can become parched. This means the water does not saturate and can cause flash floods.

The atmospheric rivers traveling over California have also been warm, meaning they are melting the record amount of snowpack at fast paces.

The rain has replenished many of California's important reservoirs that were in a dire state over the summer period.

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