You might have to wait a little longer in California, but come the rains eventually do.
California's largest reservoir is expected to reach its maximum capacity this year, to likely reach a full or nearly full level for the second consecutive time following several years of historically low water levels.Lake Shasta construction required the Southern Pacific Railroad to relocate track, and every so often there is a drought severe enough that a tunnel in the former river valley (that "narrow at the bottom") reappears; then come the rains and the tunnel floods again.
Lake Shasta rose 12 feet from March 1-26 and needs another 17 feet to reach its limit, the Redding Record Searchlight reported.
"We're expecting it to creep right up to the top," said Don Bader, area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, per the news outlet.
As of March 27, the lake was 90% full and 115% of the average for this time of year. However, Bader noted the difficulty for it to completely fill since the lake is narrow at the bottom and gets wider at the top.
In March, the bureau began limiting the water released from the Shasta Dam to allow the lake to fill, per the Record Searchlight. On March 13, it was releasing 14,000 cubic feet per second — equivalent to 377 million gallons an hour. It had reduced the release rate to 3,569 cubic feet per second two weeks later, as more than three times that amount flowed into the lake.
"The rain right now is perfect for us to just top it off by the end of April," Bader told the newspaper.
The article also notes water again filling up Lake Oroville. I wonder if there will be another "Perils of the Spillway" episode at that dam, which isn't as solid as its designers hoped it would be.
That atmospheric river left enough snow for a good late ski season, and full recreational lakes for pleasure boaters and the like could be something even the California of Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, and Adam Schiff can't mess up.
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