Tuesday April 25, 2023
Courthouse News Service —
Parts of California once mired in historic drought are now on alert for flooding as unusually high temperatures have officials predicting a massive snowpack melt into May.
State officials said in a briefing Monday that the Tulare Lake Basin and San Joaquin Valley are key concerns for officials watching for major flooding, as those areas are located downstream from the record-breaking snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains.
The U.S. Drought Monitor indicated most of the state is currently completely out of drought, with only areas in the southeastern desert regions and near the Oregon border measuring as abnormally dry or in moderate drought. The state has said the tracker does not account for snowmelt outcomes or how rainfall received over the winter will affect groundwater basins.