CACHUMA LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Santa Barbara County’s long-suffering Cachuma Lake is nowhere close to being full after years of drought, but this winter’s storms are slowly raising the water level and one of its boat ramps may finally reopen.
KEYT reports (http://bit.ly/2kuCxWL ) runoff has raised the level of the reservoir about 17 feet since the start of the year and another 10 feet would allow one boat launch ramp to open for the first time since 2015. That could happen within the next two weeks.
As of Friday, the lake is still only at about 15 percent of capacity.
The lake is in a now-tiny but persistent area of extreme drought even as storms have freed much of California from such conditions.