California’s Lake Oroville is now 100% capacity, Shasta Lake at 97% after years of extreme drought

Lake Oroville, California’s second-largest reservoir, reached 100 percent capacity on Monday, the product of heavy rains and melting snow from the surrounding mountains — all thanks to the stunning winter storms of early 2023.

Both Oroville and Lake Shasta, the state’s largest reservoir, have now swollen to a level not seen in four years of extreme drought, which had depleted the state’s freshwater reserves since 2019.

Lake Shasta, as seen in satellite images from NASA’s Earth Observatory, is at 97 percent capacity and the surrounding area is getting greener every day.

Both Lakes Shasta and Oroville are critical not only for freshwater storage, but also for flood control, crop irrigation and even recreation in the Central Valley, according to NASA. Both lakes also prevent salt water from entering the Pacific Ocean.

Private two-lane boats navigate Lake Oroville at the height of the year-long drought in August 2021 and in March 2023 after rising water levels from the winter downpours

Shasta Lake, California’s largest reservoir (above), swelled to nearly 100 percent capacity last month, rising to levels not seen in four years of drought. Heavy rain and melting snow refilled Shasta as seen via NASA satellite imagery from November 18, 2022 and May 29, 2023

The historic reversal of the state has been documented by NASA’s Earth Observatory at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in a series of impressive high-resolution satellite images.

For Shasta Lake, NASA linked images from November 18, 2022 and May 29, 2023.

In November 2022, a desiccated Shasta was clinging to just 31 percent capacity, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources. The contrast to this month of May was stark: Shasta rose to 98 percent capacity, with its “brown fringe” or “bathtub ring” of dried scrub brush all but gone.

The NASA Earth Observatory images were captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 and the OLI-2 on Landsat 9.

NASA also produced a mid-level photographic triptych of the reservoir taken on Jan. 29, 2023, when the lake reached 56 percent capacity.

California’s six largest reservoirs are enjoying some of their highest levels since 2019. Winter weather has also contributed greatly to both Trinity Lake and New Melones, which rely on melting snow to fill due to their unique geography. Both made serious gains in the past two months

Lakes Shasta and Oroville, California’s first and second largest reservoirs, respectively, are critical not only for freshwater storage, but also for flood control, crop irrigation, and even recreation in the Central Valley. Both lakes also prevent salt water from entering the Pacific Ocean

“Obviously it’s a stark contrast,” said Josh Edelson, a photographer who captured the historic 2021 low tides at Lake Oroville. fox again.

“In 2021, we had one of the worst droughts we’ve had in California,” Edelson said, “so these reservoirs were extremely low and, in many cases, almost empty in some parts.”

In fact, during the depth of California’s drought, water levels in key reservoirs dropped so low that boat docks ran dry, the land cracked, and cars drove into the center of what should have been Folsom Lake outside Sacramento.

But those scenes are gone after winter’s powerful storms dumped record amounts of rain and snow in California, replenished reservoirs and ended — largely — the state’s three-year drought.

California’s second-largest reservoir, Lake Oroville, reached 100 percent capacity on Monday, state data confirmed. The swell was aided by heavy rains and melting snow in the mountains

Above, water is drained from Lake Oroville through a spillway on April 16, 2023. The intensely wet winter has replenished California’s reservoirs to a picture of health unseen since 2019

The water picture has changed dramatically since last December, as the first of a dozen “atmospheric rivers” hit California, causing widespread flooding and damaging homes and infrastructure.

Atmospheric rivers, a meteorological term for high-altitude moist ribbons, had flowed into the American over the past year. One of California’s most famous atmospheric rivers, the Pineapple Express, begins its long journey from Hawaii.

The “rivers” in the sky over the past year have dumped a whopping 700 inches of snow across the Sierra Nevada mountains.

“California went from its three driest years on record to its three wettest weeks on record,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We were catapulted into our rainy season in January.”

“Hydrologically speaking,” Nemeth said, “California is no longer in a drought except in very small parts of the state.”

The storms have created one of the largest snowpacks ever recorded in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The snowpack’s water content is 239 percent of the normal average and nearly three times that of the southern Sierra, according to state data.

Snowpack is snow that remains on the ground after blizzards and blizzards.

However, all that rain and snow, while battling the drought, has also brought new challenges.

Some reservoirs are now so full that water is being discharged to make way for storm runoff and melting snow that could trigger flooding this summer, a new problem for weary water managers and emergency responders.

But officials inside California is also working hard to make the most of this recent influx of water, with the drought concerns of the recent past fresh in its memory.

While groundwater recharge can occur naturally, water resource managers can also aid the process by deliberately diverting runoff into canals or ponds to better channel the water underground.

There is even a technological possibility to reuse that surplus by injecting it into the subsurface through established wells.