On Saturday July 3rd, Grant Lake Reservoir began spilling for the second time since the year 2000–it also spilled in 2006 after filling up in 2005.

Inflow is dropping as the melting snow runs out, although the warm weather is melting higher elevation snow, which could maintain high inflow for a few more days. Outflow is declining as well after peaking this morning at about 460 cfs (cubic feet per second). The spill peaked at 171 cfs on Thursday and Friday last week, but LADWP was still increasing the flow in the MGORD (Mono Gate One Return Ditch) until this morning. LADWP installed pumps at the spillway in order to ensure it would (more…)

Water cascades over the Lundy Lake Reservoir spillway on its way down Mill Creek to Mono Lake. Photo by Sarah Melcher.

I grabbed the flow meter and eagerly drove out to Lundy Canyon, where our beloved Mill Creek runs in its complicated course to Mono Lake. As the intern assigned to monitor Mill Creek this summer, I got to be one of the first people to see Lundy Lake Reservoir spill into the usually less-than-full creek bed.

Typically, Mill Creek is diverted at Lundy Lake to the SCE power plant. Some of that water is then diverted for delivery to water rights holders, but (more…)

May 2010 was almost as cold as May 1998. The average temperature this May was 46.6 degrees F, making it the second-coldest May in Lee Vining since weather records started in 1988. It also set a new record low, 20 degrees, 1 degree colder than the previous May record in 2000. The average minimum temperature of 33.9 also set a new record, beating 1998’s 34.16.

Eight daily records were set last month, with seven of them broken the week of the 23rd through the 29th. Four days set new records for the lowest maximum temperature and four set new records for the lowest minimum temperature ever recorded in (more…)

Mono Lake
On April 1st, 2009 (the beginning of this Runoff Year), Mono Lake was at an elevation of 6382.5 feet. It dropped about a foot by the end of the calendar year, and in January and February it rose half a foot, for a net loss of 0.6 feet since last April 1st. The half-foot rise in January and February is the largest 2-month wintertime rise since a 0.6 foot rise in January and February 2006. Mono Lake usually rises 0.1 foot in March–if it does that this month, we should be looking at an April 1st level of about 6382.0 feet. Click here for more on Mono Lake’s levels.

Lee Vining Precipitation
Here in Lee Vining, from October through February we’ve received 11.72 inches of precipitation, which is 108% (more…)

Howard Schekter, our local Mammoth weatherman, says

“THIS EVENT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO APPROACH OR RIVAL THE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1998 EL NINO EVENT IN CENTRAL CA AND THE JANUARY 1995 TIME FRAME FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.”

The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a Special Weather Statement that includes

“THE COMBINATION OF SNOW AND WIND IN THE SIERRA MAY CAUSE SIGNIFICANT TRAVEL DELAYS AND PERIODIC ROAD CLOSURES.”

The following email we just received from the USGS through our contacts with the Forest Service (original email appears to be from Chris Haile with CalFire). It has been reposted on several other blogs (more…)

I just read Bartshe’s post about the NASA study showing that Mono Lake’s July-September surface temperature warmed about 4 degrees from 64 degrees F in 1992 to 68.3 degrees F in 2008. The article suggests comparing the water temperatures with air temperatures, and I have just done that with the results shown below. (more…)

When the temperature drops close to zero, some interesting things happen to the flowing water in Mono Lake’s tributaries. I shot this video on December 8th at Rush Creek right after measuring the flow in a side channel. Ominous cracking noises in the silent below freezing air preceded this dramatic burst (more…)

On November 12th, 2009, at approximately 5:30 pm, the roar of hail on metal roofs resounded throughout the town of Lee Vining. It hailed really hard for about an hour, followed by a transition from 1/4 inch hail to smaller and smaller hail until it turned to snow by 8:00 pm. The snow continued until around 9pm. The next morning we measured about (more…)

Brilliant fall days now have snowy peaks added to the mix after Tuesday’s storm.

WEATHER
It rained 1/4 inch per hour all afternoon and evening on Tuesday, with a snow level around 8,000 feet. The Mono Basin ended up with 2.2–2.8 inches of rain and Tioga Pass ended up with two feet of wet slushy snow that melted rapidly during the warm days that followed. Gorgeous days in the 60s will cool off a bit early next week. Click here for current conditions.

FALL COLOR

One of the best years ever for fall color along lower Lee Vining Creek. Photo by Greg Reis.

Middle and low elevations are peaking right now! This is one of the best years for fall color that I can remember along the Lee Vining Creek trail—so many red dogwoods and roses and fireweed, and yellow aspen, cottonwoods, willows, and serviceberry. There are many green trees also that will be getting colorful next week. There are a lot of tinges of orange amidst the yellow. Snowy peaks and brilliant blue (more…)

Have you ever wondered how all of those pipes, ditches, and lakes along Highway 395 connect, or how a rain drop that falls on the east side of Mt. Dana might get to Los Angeles? Well, you’re not alone, (more…)