California's Lake Oroville is officially at full capacity, following another winter with lots of precipitation.
Lake Oroville, formed by the Oroville Dam in Butte County, northern California, is the state's second-largest reservoir. Like most of California's reservoirs, the lake saw extremely dry periods in recent years due to the megadrought that gripped the region. However, its water levels now stand at about 900 feet tall, its full capacity, for the second year in a row.
"Big announcement incoming so drumroll please ... we are officially at full capacity at Lake Oroville for the second year in a row!" the California Department of Water Resources wrote on Facebook. "This is great news for ensuring adequate water supply for millions of Californians and environmental needs and we continue to manage both while maintaining flood protection for downstream communities."
Lake Oroville serves water to 27 million people in California, the department reports, meaning the amount it holds is crucial to the population.
The lake gets its water from snowmelt trickling down from the Sierra Nevada. The more snow in the mountains, the more water the lake receives when the snow melts in the spring and flows down from the peaks.
The healthy water levels follow two years of extremely wet winters for California. In 2023, Lake Oroville reached capacity after a record amount of snowpack accumulated in the Sierra Nevada. And this past winter, a slew of atmospheric rivers descended on the state, which also contributed to healthy levels of snowpack.
Last year, the precipitation was so plentiful that California's drought ended.
In April, experts confirmed that the snowpack levels had made a comeback and were now above average. The confirmation followed the spring measurements—which are the most important, as they determine how much snow can be expected to flow into the state's reservoirs.
The lake's water levels in the past two years mark a drastic change from the water levels recorded in 2021 and 2022, when the state was gripped by a drought.
In September 2021, the lake's water level dropped to a historic low when it reached 628 feet. The lake also saw low levels in 2022, an extremely dry year in which its water levels began to drop in July until it reached 658 feet in December.
The full water levels mean good news for the state's water supply. In previous years, there were serious concerns about a potential water crisis, as a lack of precipitation and snowpack meant that many reservoirs were in a dire state.
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About the writer
Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more
