California's 2nd Largest Reservoir Reaches Full Capacity Amidst Drought Recovery

The California Department of Water Resources announces that Lake Oroville is at 100% Capacity.Photo byCalifornia Department of Water Resources Facebook Page

After years of drought, California reservoirs are again filling up. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) stated that Lake Oroville in Butte County has reached full capacity for the 2nd year in a row. Lake Oroville is the 2nd largest reservoir in California with only Shasta Lake being larger than Lake Oroville. With even more good news, Shasta Lake is at 97% of capacity. Oroville serves water to over 27 million California residents.

Some residents were worried that some water was going over the spillway but authorities state that this is a normal occurrence with water levels this high and there probably will be occasional splashing due to water overflowing.

After record dry heat and historically bad fires, the rain has been a welcome site filling up the waterways for the second year in a row. Lake Shasta is filled by the snowpack that is seen in the Sierra and after 2 years of large amounts of snowfall, the lake is seeing a large amount of water to fill it. Last weekend Lake Tahoe was hit by a record-breaking snowstorm. From Saturday to Sunday, the largest amount of snowfall seen in this very wet season fell on the Sierra.

The Central Sierra Snow Laboratory at Donner Pass recorded 26.4 inches this last weekend. It was the most amount of snow seen in 24 hours since the lab kept records in the early 70's.

Some think that with all of the rain, the California fire season will be a safe one. With rain and snow though comes more growth in the Spring and Summer which could lead to much more fuel for fires to grow and spread. Authorities state that every fire season should be taken seriously.