Wet fall is already a game changer
One small change in the world has led to mind-blowing effects for Northern California, nature and the outdoor prospects for winter and the next year.
That small change was a shift in mid-October in the location of the jet stream, the conveyor belt of storms. The deluges that have followed stopped a Tahoe fire, saturated soils, put many reservoirs at 100 percent of average for the date, fed wetlands in time for arriving waterfowl and shorebirds, and put ski parks in line for a chance at a big season.
One of the best indicator sites is the weather station at the Blue Canyon airport, at 5,284 feet near Nyack along Interstate 80. Last year at this time, the start of an El Niño winter, it had received 1.88 inches of rain, and the average for the date is 3.44 inches. As of Saturday evening, it had received 14.88 inches, with snow forecast for Sunday.
From another perspective, every 6 inches of rain is equal to 11 billion gallons of water in Lake Tahoe, according to the National Weather Service in Reno.
This wet start to fall has an effect just about everywhere you look.
Fire danger:
In mid-October, the start of the Emerald Fire near South Lake Tahoe threatened to turn into an inferno that resembled the Angora Fire of 2007, which burned 3,100 acres and more than 300 buildings, including 270 homes. With the Emerald Fire, as a catastrophe loomed, firefighters were able to direct the wildfire away from homes, and then it rained about 5 inches; the fire was put out and no homes were damaged. “You can see how that thing ignited and accelerated at incredible speed,” said Bruce
Pope, a field scout who owns a home in the area. “If the firefighters hadn’t been able to contain it, it would have wiped every house out. They got it directed and then the rain came, a whole lot of rain in a short time. It just shut that thing down.”
Saturated soils:
For nature, the perfect scenario is heavy rain, about 10 inches, arriving by Thanksgiving to saturate soils. In the mountain country, to continue the scenario, that rain would then be followed by freezing temperatures, ice and, arriving on top of that, snow. In the spring, snowmelt would then do two things: 1) It would push vertically down into saturated aquifers, and in turn, push out springs, nature’s irrigation system, to the surface. 2) With soils saturated, spring rain and snowmelt would not get soaked up like a sponge, but instead feed into creeks and rivers and pour into reservoirs in April, May and June. The stage is already set for that.
Reservoirs:
For the first time in five years, a lot of the big lakes are over 100 percent of normal for the date as peak fall arrives. They include, north to south: Shasta (100), Whiskeytown (99), Antelope (99), Black Butte (108), Bullards Bar (115), Union Valley (109), Loon (122), Ice House (133), Sonoma (108), Camanche (116), Pardee (107), Tulloch (104) and Don Pedro (100). In addition, the natural lakes in wilderness are filling before the snow arrives, so next spring’s snowmelt will bring the cup that runneth over. Next year is already shaping up with the chance to be sensational for lake-based camping, boating and fishing. For the total picture, the wet start to fall is a game-changer for Northern California. The big question marks are Oroville, New Hogan, New Melones and San Luis, all well below normal for the date.
Wetlands: For the first time in five years, state and federal agencies provided all the water needed to flood seasonal marshes and wetlands at federal wildlife refuges and state wildlife areas. An estimated 7 million ducks on the Pacific Flyway are en route to California for winter, plus 1.6 million shorebirds to wetlands adjoining San Francisco Bay. In addition, the rain in the Sacramento Valley has already turned the landscape green; for years it has been brown well into winter. If the rain continues, ephemeral ponding will occur, which will add vast uplands habitat for wildlife in the foothills and valleys.
Ski parks: As the weekend started, it was snowing in the High Sierra at Mammoth Mountain, and the ski area announced that its grand opening, even if very limited, would be Nov. 10. Snow lines have been high, typical for October, but Michael Pechner of Golden West Meteorology said he was forecasting a chance of snow Sunday at lake level at Lake Tahoe. “A lot of this recent moisture has been sub-tropical,” Pechner said. “In the Sierra, you’ve had to go to 8,500 to 9000 feet before you get snow. This Sunday, it’s a cold one, and could drop the snow line to lake level” at Tahoe. The early season skiing, wildcat-style, in which you hike up and ski down, has been a hit at Mount Shasta at 8,500 to 11,000 feet.
Fish stories
World record certified: The International Game Fish Association has certified a new world record for spotted bass: 10 pounds, 6 ounces, caught at Bullards Bar Reservoir east of Marysville (Yuba County). The lucky angler was Tim Little. Many believe an 11-pounder will be caught and certified in the coming months at Bullards Bar, or perhaps at Pine Flat, Whiskeytown, Oroville, New Melones or McClure. Salmon highway: On the Wacky Jacky last week out of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, 16 people caught 12 salmon, including two 30pounders, field scout Brian Murphy reported. “About six, all big fall slugs, were lost,” Murphy said. “Not all the big salmon are already up the river.”
Outdoor notes
Eyes in the dark: Mitch Levine made his morning run down to Kirby Cove and, with his headlamp, spotted a pair of glowing eyes peering out of the forest. “We slowed, then stopped, to make sure it wasn’t a mountain lion,” he said. “It was a deer, running onto the hillside. Then a bird flew from nearly the same spot, but its eyes, or something, glowed similarly to that of the deer. I said to my niece, ‘Did we really see that?’ ”
I’ve seen the same thing from the reflection of the bright yellow of the eyes of a great horned owl. Free fly-fishing clinic: Bay Nature in consort with Trout Unlimited will host a free fly-fishing clinic Nov. 11 at Quarry Lakes ($5 parking) in Fremont. Advance registration, limited to 45, at https://baynature.org/events/ list. Bike the bridges: A feature last week described how cyclists could ride over bridges on the bay, and then extend the rides to parks and along the bay on each end. As many readers noted, there are five bridges you can ride over, not four. The fifth is at the edge of the lower delta at Suisun Bay. Avid cyclists from East Bay counties can make an ambitious loop that connects the Benicia Bridge (that connects Benicia to Martinez) and the Carquinez/Zampa Bridge (that connects Crockett to Vallejo). Hitting the road: My truck hit 365,000 miles last week, and with 400,000 in sight and some required vacation ahead, my column will be on hiatus for much of November while we roam near and far, very far.