Yosemite Valley campsites will close on Friday in anticipation of flooding
Fear of flooding as Yosemite's record-setting snowpack begins to melt has prompted officials to close a large swath of Yosemite National Park to the public starting Friday evening.
The closures will last until at least the following Wednesday and may be extended. Reservations for campgrounds and lodging in the eastern Yosemite Valley will be automatically canceled and refunded, according to a National Park Service notice.
It has been a tumultuous time in the area because of California's extreme winter storms that blanketed the Sierra Nevada in snow. The park was closed for nearly a month from late February to mid-March, during which at least two snowfall records — one for the valley floor, the other in the park's high country — were broken.
The snowpack in the southern Sierra is still measuring 256% of normal. With a heat wave coming this weekend, areas throughout the Central Valley are bracing for the big melt, with snow likely to dissolve at a dramatically higher rate.
Some areas under threat of flooding have already been inundated once this year, such as the Tulare Lake Basin, where the once-dry lake submerged farmland.
Flows on the Merced River at Pohono Bridge in Yosemite National Park, which currently measure 7.6 feet, are expected to reach the flood stage of 10 feet Friday.
"Snowmelt due to much warmer than normal temperatures are projected to melt snow, leading to rises in creeks, streams, and rivers through the park," tweeted the National Weather Service office in Hanford, Calif., which issued a flood watch for the park effective early Thursday.
Other parts of the park will remain open, park officials said on Instagram, including Wawona, Mariposa Grove (via hike only) and the Crane Flat area. The closure will be at the El Capitan crossover, and there will be no access, including for pedestrians, east of that road. Officials warn that parking in western Yosemite Valley will be extremely limited, and no services will be available there.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
