A large lake fills the bottom of Death Valley at Badwater.
Lake Manly reappears in Death Valley at Badwater. Lake Manly was a large Pleistocene (ice age) lake at the bottom of Death Valley. A small lake occasionally reappears after heavy desert rains. The size of the shallow lake is exceptional now. NPS "Thanks to all this rain, we're thinking about launching a new program, #KayakDeathValley! What do you think?
Disclaimer: We couldn't actually kayak."
Dante's View overlooking the reappearance of Lake Manly in Death Valley. NPS reports 70% of Death Valley Park is now open.
Two feet of mud fill Scotty Castle's visitor center after 1000 year flood.
NPS "The Garage/Longshed, which serves as the Scotty’s Castle Visitor Center, was the building most impacted by the (thousand year) flood. The exterior of the building is surrounded by mud, rocks and other debris deposited by the flood. Approximately two feet of mud fills the interior of the building."
The Amargosa River is flowing again in Death Valley.
Details follow the orange divider.
Death Valley's roads, facilities, and power and water lines were heavily damaged by flash floods from a series of storms in October. Scotty's Castle, the former home of a wealthy eccentric settler to the cooler, higher northern end of Death Valley, suffered the heaviest damage. 2.72 inches of rain fell in just 5 hours on October 18 when a storm cell stalled over Scotty's Castle, a popular visitor attraction. The extreme rain caused a thousand year flood. The visitor center, which was once Scotty's garage, was filled with 2 feet of mud. The pool, which was never filled, finally has water in it more than a century after it was built. Fortunately, the main home is on higher ground and suffered less damage. However, water and power lines were destroyed and the park services that it will take a year to repair the damage and reopen the castle.
The Park Service reported today that 70% of the park's roads are now open and it's the perfect time to see the rebirth of Lake Manly which filled the bottom of Death Valley in the ice ages. During the ice ages the Pacific storm track was pushed south of where it is today by cold Arctic air pushing off of continental glaciers. Heavy rains and snows fell in the mountains surrounding Death Valley. The bottom of Death Valley was much more temperate. It was so cool and wet that a large lake, named Lake Manly, formed. The "bathtub rings" of Lake Manly can be seen on the rock faces of the slopes around the valley.
East Pacific ocean surface temperature "anomalies" are much above normal.
The Pacific ocean is astoundingly warm off the west coast of north and central America.
Lake Manly has been temporarily reborn by warm wet conditions associated with record warm water temperatures associated with the intense El Nino which is now affecting global weather. Stronger than normal trade winds built up enormous amounts of heat in the western Pacific ocean over the past decade in the mislabeled "global warming hiatus". Sea level rose to record heights as a deep warm pool built up east of the Philippines. When the winds turned westerly near the equator "the dam burst" and the warm waters surged below the surface across the equator towards the west coast. Now the west coast of Mexico has a deep pool of record warm water offshore. The strongest storm in the history of the western hemisphere, hurricane Patricia fed off of that deep pool of hot water. The high levels of water vapor coming off the Pacific ocean also fueled the 1000 year flood in Death Valley. The floods in Death Valley are likely a precursor of extreme flooding in California this winter. Climate change has been making strong El Nino events more extreme since 1981 by intensifying tropical convection and the trade winds.
The super El Nino has a bright side. The heavy rain in Death Valley will bring a stunning show of flowers in February and March. Heavy rains this winter may break the extreme drought that has been parching California. In 2005, El Nino's rains brought a stunning floral display to the desert.
Desert Gold (Geraea canescens) put on a spectacular display in February during the Super Bloom of 2005.
El Nino rains in 2004-2005 brought a super bloom to the desert. Desert Gold (Geraea canescens) put on a spectacular display in February 2005.