Yes, there is a lake at China Lake! Ordinarily a dry lake (playa), but since
we have had 6 - to - 10 inches of rainfall since Christmas 2004, the real lake
has appeared. The lake is totally enclosed by the Naval Air Weapons Station
test ranges. The photograph is taken from the east side of the lake
bed, near Burro Canyon and the Survivability Range, looking to the west to the
Sierra Nevada. The horizontal line about 1/3 up the foothills of the Sierra
is the L. A. aqueduct that still drains Owens Valley to our north. The
lake bed starts about 2- 3 miles north of the China Lake Golf Club and
the community of China Lake, and extends for several miles to the north. |
Who says there is no water in China Lake?? |
Picture and text submitted by Linda Clark |
Page 8 |
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. 1 & 2 - In the beginning 3 - Naval Air Facility 4 - The Ranges 5 - Doc the B-29 6 - NAWC Museum |
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High Desert Memories - A Hometown Journal Commemorating Ridgecrest California |
Is there a Winter on the Desert??? |
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Select a page number above to move from page to page |
. 1 & 2 - In the beginning 3 - Naval Air Facility 4 - The Ranges 5 - Doc the B-29 6 - NAWC Museum |
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This is the old Administration Building |
The Chapel in winter. |
Snowy pathway to the entrance of Michelson Lab |
Looking from the front of the O' Club down Brandy St. |
This is what the area generally looks like during the winter This view
is at the airfield looking across to the Sierra's, |
7 - The Sidewinder 8 - Weather 9 - 60 Year FED service 10 - China Lake named National Historic site |
7 - The Sidewinder 8 - Weather 9 - 60 Year FED service 10 - China Lake named National Historic site |
China Lake & Ridgecrest Weather |
The Indian Wells Valley generally has some pretty mild winters,
springs and falls. Summers are always hot and mostly dry. There are
those years when all the stops come out and we have a big rainfall in a very
short period of time. Then we see flash flooding out of the mountains, flooding
on the more or less flat streets of our urban areas and the top layer
of our desert floor becomes a soupy mess. There are also those occasional
years when we have a pretty decent snow and the whole desert changes. to
a cold white playground. If we have snow or a lot of rain we can expect
a spring with more then the usual crop of wildflowers. The one weather feature which is with us all year long is the wind. There are wind storms carrying dust from Owens Lake and sand from the desert floor. The kinds of winds occasionally which cause the sand to ruin windshields and sand the paint off of cars. With gusts that peel shingles off of roofs and blow unsuspecting truck and trailer rigs off the road. One thing you may set your watch by is the daily wind that comes up in the afternoons. This page presents a picture story of the many different weather phenomena which happen in this area. Some occur yearly and others there are several years between their occurrence. I think you'll agree that some are violent others are just inconvenient. |
The Rains came . . . . . |
This was the result of a 17 minute rain storm in 1949 |
1984 flood in Ridgecrest |
The following pictures illustrate the flooding caused by a big rain in July of 2008 |
The black and white pictures below are from the winter of 49 |
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Base Chapel |
Brandy Street from the east looking back at the O' Club |
Answering the question - "Is there winter on the mojave Desert?", the answer would have to be . . . . . Yes Definitely!!! |
The Dust Devil is the beginning of a Desert Tornado Fortunately, for desert denizens, this is a big one. They can start anywhere but they are most prevalent around and in dry lakes. |
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D E S E R T |
W I N D S |
Finally the last example of desert weather is seldom seen fog. It occasionally
envelops the valley only to burn off in the later part of the day. |
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Finally, the occasional light show |
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