Photos: Central Valley lake refills after spending more than a century dried up

The image acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows the Tulare Lake area on February 1, before significant flooding started. (NASA)

By Pueng Vongs | pvongs@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: May 15, 2023 at 12:29 p.m. | UPDATED: May 17, 2023 at 6:02 p.m.

Tulare Lake was once the largest lake West of the Mississippi before farmers in the 1920s diverted the rivers that filled it to nourish crops. But after a winter of heavy rain and flooding in the Tulare Basin, the lake is once again filling up.

The image above, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows flooded farm fields in the Tulare lakebed on April 30, 2023. (NASA) — The image above, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, shows flooded farm fields in the lakebed on April 30, 2023. (NASA)

NASA satellites captured the progression of rising water in the 10-million-acre lake returning back to life.

The images below show the progression of flooding in the Tulare Lake basin. They were acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite between March 2 and April 28, 2023. (NASA) — The images below show the progression of flooding in the Tulare Lake basin. They were acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite between March 2 and April 28, 2023. (NASA)

Here is some drone footage from a very windy Tuesday evening out over Tulare Lake. #tularelake #dronephotography #dronevideo #stratford pic.twitter.com/dlEylqO4mK

— Mike Mendoza (@DayTrippinMike) May 10, 2023

Flood fears are still high for the Tulare Lake Basin and Southern San Joaquin Valley as the melting of the massive Sierra Nevada snowpack accelerates with the approach of summer.

Dry for nearly a century; this CA basin is filling up. The seasonal lake dried in the early 1900s & was converted into cropland. After a torrent of winter storms, #Landsat imagery shows Tulare Basin’s lake reappearing. #ImageOfTheWeek. https://t.co/VrfClHQUaV pic.twitter.com/6XcFOKwXAf

— USGS EROS (@USGS_EROS) May 10, 2023