And then the rains came

And then the rains came

All the weather forecasts predicted an “atmospheric river” would fall on Northern California, and rain it did! For nearly a week rain fell on and off, light and heavy, blustery and calm. I saw people posting photos online of the McCloud River higher than I had ever seen it in sixteen years, so I had to go see for myself. By the time I got there, the river had gone down considerably from the photos I had seen online, but it was still well above even high spring runoff flows. It’s truly amazing and humbling to see that much water rushing through the volcanic rock channels and over the waterfalls. This is normal flow for lower falls.

Sunset at Lower Falls, McCloud River, Northern California

Sunset at Lower Falls, McCloud River, Northern California

And this was yesterday.

Lower Falls Whirlpool

Lower Falls Whirlpool

This is Middle Falls on an average day.

Middle Falls at Sunset

Middle Falls at Sunset

And this is how it looked yesterday.

In the Mist

In the Mist

Now the rain has stopped for the most part and I suppose the river will go back to normal. The temperature is falling and soon we will see the snow fly! And that will bring more opportunities for  photographs of nature’s wonder. I await the next show.

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