Another storm, more water, and the creeks awaken
As California continues to get both blessed and hammered by an unexpectedly wet winter, bringing an abundance snow and rain, water has started to appear in places that have been dry the past few years. And local creeks that have been mostly silent have roared back to life.
This was especially true in the Tehachapi area during the Saturday, March 11 visit of yet another atmospheric river of moisture dumping on California. By the middle of the day, after several hours of heavy rain, our gutters, storm drains and even streets were awash with storm runoff, which quickly entered into local natural drainages.
Much of the precipitation this year has come in the form of slow, gentle rains or snow, which is a slow-release form of moisture. As a result, we haven’t had too much rapid runoff. The exception was the big, multiday storm of Feb. 22-26, which was mostly snow but did yield a couple of inches of hard rain one afternoon that caused surging runoff. And then a hard sustained rain fell again last Saturday.
The Tehachapi area, led by the Tehachapi-Cummings County
Water District, has undertaken many efforts over the decades to reduce runoff and flooding, and to capture rainwater and snowmelt. The biggest examples of this are near Highline Road with the I.D. 3 Check Dam and recharge area just east of Tucker Road, and further east, the Blackburn and Antelope Canyon Dams and recharge basins. These structures were built with the help of federal funding and have greatly eased area flooding in the City of Tehachapi.
Runoff from many different areas of Tehachapi enter into Tehachapi Creek, the waterway that mostly parallels Highway 58 down
towards the San Joaquin Valley as it winds through Tehachapi Canyon. Storm water from the city of Tehachapi and Golden Hills feed into Tehachapi Creek, and Brite Creek also dumps into Tehachapi Creek near Golden Hills Nature Park.
On Saturday afternoon by about 1 p.m., Tehachapi Creek was a rushing, racing torrent of mocha-colored storm water, carrying some silt and sediment as it charged down its normally-tranquil streambed.
Though most people are hardly aware of its existence, Tehachapi Creek is usually a year-round creek that trickles even in summer. It may not be visible everywhere, and sometimes goes underground and re-emerges farther downstream, but there is usually always water in some places. This nourishes a riparian corridor that draws wildlife including Black Bears, Mountain Lions, Raccoons, Bobcats, California Mule Deer, etc.
On Saturday, the placid little creek that you can often jump
across was raging, and in many places would have been difficult to cross without getting swept off your feet.
About a mile and a half down the freeway to Bakersfield, you can see a green upright culvert pipe with a conical pointed cap. This houses the Tehachapi Creek Streamflow Gauge, an instrument similar to an old seismograph, with graph paper on a drum and a pencil marker that keeps constant track of the water that flows through the creek.
Part of the gauge consists of a concrete channel in the creek bottom
that the water flows through. This resembles a short section of canal, about 100 yards long, and it helps ensure that the creek is level and even when it flows past the gauge, to provide a more accurate measurement.
I stopped by the streamflow gauge on Saturday, to take photos and just enjoy the spectacle of Tehachapi Creek, strong and invigorated, as it splashed and roared. I’ve seen the creek meandering sleepily most of the times when I’ve stopped by; it was great to see it so vibrant and alive.
In the often-arid Inner Ranges
where we live, abundant snow and rainwater is a gift to be appreciated and enjoyed when it arrives. I hope that it keeps coming as spring begins. . .
Have a good week.