BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — California continues to buckle under a sweltering heat wave with no end in sight. But the state’s epic snowpack isn’t going anywhere just yet.
If you can stomach Yosemite National Park’s bumper-to-bumper traffic, you’ll be greeted with as much as five feet of snow at its eastern entrance.
It’s just one symptom of the state’s very unusual water year.
"There’s still quite a bit of snow for this time of year, especially in the central and southern Sierra Nevada," David Rizzardo, hydrology manager with the state’s Department of Water Resources, said.
Tioga Pass will reopen — finally
Starting Saturday, visitors will be able to enter Yosemite National Park through Tioga Pass. It’s an unseasonably late opening given the amount of snow along the pass.
Yosemite National Park officials posted a video online, showing employees chipping away at a giant mound of snow with shovels.
"We’re up here at 9,800 feet or so, just right here at the east gate of the park and we’re trying to find a garbage can and bend it back," a ranger says. " It’s been a long winter ... treasure!”
Another ranger, Foster Jones, can be seen holding up a decapitated satellite dish.
“You can see where our satellite dish has been completely ripped from its hinges with the weight of the snow this year," Jones says.
Some boulders also rolled down onto roads during the winter storms, so crews are using explosives to blast them into smaller pieces they can shove to the side of the road.
Visitors can enter the park but should bring all the food and water they need. Officials say there is still damage on the roads, so people should expect delays and one-lane traffic at times.
Flood concerns minimal
Despite the snow and heat, Rizzardo says there’s little chance of flooding. The snowpack is much smaller than it was a few months ago, at its peak.
"It’s sort of ran out of fuel to really drive the much, much higher inflows to the reservoirs," he said.
Officials say the real danger is in the state’s fast-moving rivers and creeks, where even strong swimmers can get swept away.
