California's Tulare Lake is Back, After 26 Years

Yes, I pronounced it wrong ONCE. Watch past 0:26 seconds to hear me pronounce it correctly every other time...
The phantom lake. The lake that will not die. Tulare Lake is back after 26 years and record rainfall refills the basin in the San Jaoquin Valley in central California, leading to flooding and a resurgence of nature for hundreds of square miles of farm land.

***Check out THE map***

[robtangent]

Missing from the commentary is one of the main culprits: J. G. Boswell, the Georgia cotton farmer who bought property on Tulare Lake and subsequently drained the wetlands around the lake, using dykes, ditches, canals, and dams in order to farm its fertile bed.

[dejorgensen]

I think it should be left. It would definitely help the local water table and local moisture issues. I really hope that it remains. But highly doubtful.

[shanat]

That area was named Lake Tulare for a reason. It needs to remain a lake.

[Miamcoline]

Awesome. The lake really should be left and restored. It would massively help with California's ground water and rain issues as well as restore an ecosystem in the process. Win win.

[beckyjohnson]

It's not a "disaster." Mother Nature says there's supposed to be a lake there, and our pitiful efforts to hold back the inevitable flood waters are doomed to fail. Let's rethink this. How about we ACCEPT there's supposed to be a lake there, and make it so. #SaveTulareLake

[jamesstjames]

I hope that lake grows to its former glory!😀

[jeffsers]

It's beyond me why people thought it was a good idea to develop in a basin such as that. Even with the controls, did they not think of the heavy rains that California gets occasionally?

[DMax]

The funniest part to me about this is I live in an area that was originally wetland, and every older house here has a basement. Come Fall, a literally underground river runs through the entire 100 square mile area, flooding all of the basements. Recently, the local goverment has been busy buying up land and reconverting it to wetland habitat, and I think we're far better for it.

[infurian-_-]

Honestly……… I feel for everyone who has property there….. but I think we should give the lake it’s land back. It’s gorgeous just seeing a small percentage of what it was and honestly the west needs more bodies of water

[GeraldBrewer-ke]

Great information. You are one of the only post that mentioned the 97 flooding. Great research. 👍

[IrishWhiskeyParanormal]

I would like to see it stay around longer than just a couple of years to replenish the ground water levels. With all of the pumping of water from the aquafer over the last several decades, the land has been sinking about one inch per year.

[lynnenneji]

I always enjoy the obscure content. The maps were a great help to see its history. Thanks again.

[scpatlnow]

Another reason it is filling is that the land is actually lower by several feet due to the pumping of ground water.

[sushibar]

With a strong El Nino seemingly growing this year, next winter could be a very wet one for Central and Southern California. El Nino years tend to be wet years for the southern half of the state, with the Jet Stream directing, you guessed it, atmospheric rivers that way. If so, Tulare Lake could get another major inflow of water next year as well. And if El Nino hangs around for another year or two, as it can do, there could be even more after that.

[VRed]

I love the interesting history you share on the places you go. And the lake returns in spite of man. Now that’s great news. Thanks for taking me along Mason

[theblackbear]

Well done.
You might have mentioned the fact that there are areas of significant subsidence (especially in the last 20 years) in the lake bed -
due to the pumping of ground water - which is exacerbating the surface flooding.

[Engitainment]

Really cool video, i'd never heard of such a thing. Also, the audacity of people demanding more be done about Seasonal Water Changes in what is historically a Marshy Basin is just incredible, it's like demanding the shoreline be pushed out further on a beachfront.

[Pearly-nmkn]

This makes me smile. Tired of hearing about California's water woes, much of it by their own making. This is nature's revenge.

[soniccd]

I like how this is seen as a disaster when for once california is trying to fix its drought conditions

[f.w.]

Usually when large bodies of water dry up, or have the water removed from its location the evaporation of moriste from the ground will cause soil to sink, making the lake deeper when the next flood happens,