DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Kayakers… the driest place on earth After a series of record-setting storms hit California's Death Valley, water returned to Lake Manly.
Park ranger Nicole Andler said Death Valley National Park's Badwater Basin, which runs along part of central California's border with Nevada, is “usually a very beautiful, bright white salt flat.” .
This year it's a lake.
Over the past six months, Death Valley's annual rainfall has more than doubled, with more than 4.9 inches (12.45 centimeters) of rain recorded, compared to about 2 inches (5.08 centimeters) in normal years.Above the temperature Only 130 F (54.44 C) has been recorded Several times on earth Mainly in Death Valley.
Vinaya Vijay (right) and Vijay Parthasarathy walk through the water at Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, California, on Thursday, February 22, 2024. The basin, normally a salt flat, is filled with water from the past few months of rain. (AP Photo/John Locher)
At 85.95 meters (282 feet) above sea level, Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America and is a popular spot for tourists to take selfies and take short walks along white salt flats surrounded by sand-colored mountains. is.
“This is the lowest point in North America. So we're going to collect water, but it's very unusual to have as much water as we have right now and for it to be this deep and last this long.” ,” Andler said. “It’s almost once in a lifetime, if not once in a lifetime.”
Andler said kayakers should come soon, as water levels are expected to drop within the next few weeks, but said the lake “will probably be here until April.” May if I'm lucky. And it would be a muddy, wet mess, and then it would dry up to be that beautiful white salt flat. ”
A paddleboarder paddles through the water at Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, California, Thursday, February 22, 2024. The basin, normally a salt flat, is filled with water from recent months of rain. (AP Photo/John Locher)
On Thursday, Heather Gang and her husband, Bob, of Pahrump, Nevada, were among hundreds of visitors playing in the water. Most entered the lake, but the couple and others paddled in parts where the water was about 1 foot (0.3 meters) deep.
“Kayaking Lake Manly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Heather Gang said.
It was a marked contrast to the Death Valley of the past, where they once thought they were standing around the same spot and looking out at chalk salt flats as far as the eye could see.
Since then, the couple has been keeping an eye on the lake's evolution last year's storm started fill the lake. In the fall, I drove out to see how it re-emerged as a lake, but apparently it wasn't deep enough for kayaking like it is now. This time the water reached the promenade.
The lake is currently about 9.66 kilometers (9.66 kilometers) long and 3 miles (4.83 kilometers) wide, but it is still nowhere near its original state thousands of years ago, after it formed during the Ice Age and covered a large portion of the park. It was several hundred feet deep.
Bob Gang said he had heard about 20 years ago that the lake was full enough for boaters, so he didn't want to miss out on the experience.
“It's a lot of fun,” said Bob Gang, who put the girls in a kayak. “It's good to see the little kids here enjoying this and seeing something totally unique.”
It may be another 20 years before boaters return, he added, but “with climate change, this may become the norm.”
Guo Yu, an assistant professor of hydrometeorology at the Nevada-based Desert Research Institute, said the lake's size is a “simple natural phenomenon.”
It is associated with rainy winters strong El Nino phenomenon — Natural and occasional warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean could cause California to experience more precipitation than usual — plus climate change. More intense atmospheric rivers flow into the area more often. said Yu.
He said scientists needed to study Lake Manly now to see if the water could be used for other uses in the future, such as drinking water across the arid southwest.
For now, friends Trudel Artigrea and Sheri Dee Hopper, who live in Las Vegas, plan to enjoy paddling on the lake. By the end of the day Thursday, the salt-dusted kayak looked like a “glazed donut,” Altigrere said.
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Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego contributed.
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the park ranger's first name to Nichole.
