Planning for the future in California’s wet-then-dry, whiplash climate pattern is a very real challenge. The big winter we just came through has changed much about how Mono Basin residents are planning for the future. For example, my husband and…
Lakewatch: Record rise for Mono Lake expected A lot of snow was melting around Mono Lake in April, but Mono Lake rose less than a tenth of a foot that month, to 6380.07 feet above sea level on May 1.…
Exceptional runoff offers exceptional restoration opportunities The seasonal runoff (April through September) in the Mono Basin this year is forecasted to be 243% of the long-term (1971–2020) mean runoff, which will make it the single wettest seasonal runoff period in…
Amended settlement returns streamflows to Mono Lake’s third-largest tributary The Mono Lake Committee is dedicated to protecting and restoring Mono Lake and its tributary streams, but while protection and restoration were afforded to four of Mono Lake’s major creeks (Rush,…
Community members and friends and family of Andrea Mead Lawrence gathered at Mammoth Mountain’s Parallax Restaurant in early May to present Dave Marquart, retired Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve ranger, with the 2023 Andrea Lawrence Award. Andrea was a…
DWP stream diversions will undo this year’s lake level gains unless State Water Board acts The incredibly wet winter of 2023 has us anticipating an exciting 5½-foot rise in Mono Lake’s level by fall. That gain will boost the lake…
I remember when April 1st was a normal, good-humored day at the office. We greeted each other with “happy April Fool’s Day” and pulled small pranks. One year Arya and I dangled a plastic toy dinosaur out the attic vent…
Last fall, a flock of phalarope enthusiasts traveled 3,000 miles from Mono Lake to the Wilson’s Phalarope’s southernmost migration point—Laguna Mar Chiquita. That’s how six Mono Lake Committee staff, one Board member, and several long-time Mono Lake advocates from California…
This winter, poconip fog reigned in the Mono Basin. From the first snow in early November to the lengthening days of March, if we weren’t catching monster snowflakes on our tongues from snowstorm after snowstorm, we were enveloped in a…
Streamwatch: Astonishing snowpack numbers portend record runoff A dry 2022 ended abruptly in November with a foot of snow. Despite the continuous precipitation all winter, consistently cold weather kept winter streamflows low. But with record snowpack, 2023 will bring record…
