A heavy haze hangs over houseboats moored in Lake Oroville during the Bear Fire in the North Complex on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. Houseboats1
Lake Oroville, California – California’s second-largest reservoir, Lake Oroville, is on track to reach full capacity this spring for the third year in a row—a historic milestone never before achieved. The recovery comes after years of devastating drought that left the state’s reservoirs at record lows, and signals a promising, albeit regional, rebound in California’s water supply.
On Monday, Lake Oroville’s water level stood at 888 feet, just 12 feet shy of its full capacity of 900 feet. Thanks to consistent winter precipitation, water levels have steadily risen since late November. The increase continues a trend seen over the last two years, when the lake also reached capacity in early summer after snowmelt boosted water levels.
Above-average snowfall in the winters of 2023 and early 2024 helped fuel the reservoir’s recovery. Although this past winter saw less snow overall, California’s snowpack—measured at 90% of average as of March 28—has still provided enough runoff to keep Lake Oroville on pace to fill. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) credits the snowpack as a critical input in planning for statewide water distribution, especially during drier months.
“The April 1 snowpack is an important benchmark for water managers who rely on snowpack and snowmelt runoff forecast data to plan for the amount of water that will flow into California’s rivers and reservoirs in the spring,” a DWR spokesperson told Newsweek.
Lake Oroville isn’t the only reservoir rebounding. Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir, is also nearing capacity. As of Monday, it was only five feet below its maximum level of 1,067 feet, with full capacity expected by early May.
“This will be the first time Lake Oroville has reached full capacity three years in a row,” said a DWR spokesperson.
Despite the strong water levels in the north, DWR Director Karla Nemeth warned that conditions remain uneven across the state.
“It’s not a wet year across the entire Sierra Nevada,” Nemeth said in a press release. “Snowpack is less than average in the central and southern parts of the mountain range, and that regional disparity affects how much water the State Water Project can deliver.”
While Lake Oroville’s resurgence is a bright spot, Southern California continues to face severe to extreme drought conditions, highlighting the ongoing challenges of managing water resources across a diverse, drought-prone state.
