Atmospheric River Runoff Reignites Pure ‘Firefall’ in Yosemite Nationwide Park – CBS San Francisco

October 30, 2021

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Atmospheric River Runoff Reignites Pure ‘Firefall’ in Yosemite Nationwide Park – CBS San Francisco

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (CNN) – Some visitors to Yosemite National Park this week were delighted to see a glowing ribbon of water that looked like molten lava tumbling down Horsetail Falls on El Capitan.

Horsetail does not normally flow at this time of year, but the recent severe storms that swept the area brought it back to life, creating the phenomenon known as “fire falls”.

The “fire fall” usually occurs on clear evenings in late February, when the setting sun shines at just the right angle through autumn. The event is such a huge attraction that Yosemite requested online reservations earlier this year to limit crowds.

Edgar Le, who was visiting from Rochester, New York, told CNN that it was “extraordinary” to see the “fire fall” while hiking near Yosemite Lodge on Tuesday.

“Like looking at a lava flow flowing down from the top of El Capitan,” he said. “For me as a landscape photographer, it is more than a miracle to see the fire fall.”

Park officials said in a Facebook post on Monday that Yosemite Valley had more than six inches of rain in a 36-hour period and that a few feet of snow fell at higher elevations.

Horsetail Fall at Dusk October 26, 2021. (Courtesy Scott Oller via CNN)

San Francisco creative director and photographer Scott Oller heard that the “Fire Fall” might be on Tuesday, so he left work around 1pm and drove to Yosemite. He told CNN that he got there with about 45 minutes.

Oller said he saw the “fire case” for the first time in February after several failed attempts in previous years.

“The fire fall is one of the most surreal things I’ve ever seen,” said Oller. “It’s almost like watching a total solar eclipse or something, you just freeze in awe.”

He said he found a pull-out area about 2,000 feet from Horsetail Fall to park and pull out his gear.

There were only about 10 other people there which is much less crowded than on his previous trips.

“In winter there is just an endless sea of tripods,” says Oller.

Oller said many of the people he saw appeared to be surprised tourists who stopped their cars because they were amazed at what they saw.

“It seems incredible that this can happen and it’s getting better by the minute,” said Oller. “The light changes from gold to fiery orange to a pale pink. It’s unreal. “

The heavy rain also thundered the water over the 2,425 foot high Yosemite Falls.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen water move over the falls,” said Jerald Meadows, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s office in Hanford, California.

“What usually brings us good waterfalls over Yosemite Falls is our snowpack, and last year the snowpack was very low,” which means that the river, which usually lasts until June or July, “subsided in March and April,” he told CNN.

The falls are flowing really well now, in part because little rain has taken up the parched ground, Meadows explained.

“So it may be drying out faster than normal … a shorter period of rivers than we normally see,” he said.

In terms of how long Yosemite Falls could maintain its iconic size, “everything indicates we’re having a drier than normal rainfall year,” Meadows said. “The waterfalls could dry out again in the period from November to December.”