ABC News On Dramatic Recovery Of Lake Oroville

I’ve fished twice at Lake Oroville, and since my last visit there in 2018 the lake has been decimated by drought (see above) and now replenished after an historically wet winter. The lake is now at 100 percent.

Here’s ABC News on the dramatic changes:

The improving drought conditions in California are “a stark difference” from the last three years, California Department of Water Resources director Karla Nemeth said in an emailed statement to ABC News.

Oroville can hold 3.5 million acre-feet of water, with the peak flow from the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains occurring in April as temperatures began to rise quickly in the region. Some spots in the Sierra Nevada mountains received up to 200% more snowpack than normal due to repeated rounds of atmospheric rivers that slammed the West Coast during the winter season. …

“It’s refreshing to see Lake Oroville and other State Water Project (SWP) reservoirs like San Luis near or at capacity,” Nemeth said.

In April, when Lake Oroville was measuring at 91% capacity, the DWR announced the State Water Project would be delivering 100% allocation for the first time since 2006.