Speed Limit Lifted As Folsom Lake Levels Rise Above 400 Feet
FOLSOM LAKE (CBS13) — There was a little more action on Folsom Lake on Wednesday as motorboats were allowed to pick up speed once again on the water.
It's been almost three months since the California Department of Parks and Recreation imposed a 5-mile-per-hour speed restriction for boaters on Folsom Lake. The lake level was too low to safely boat at higher speeds.
Alex Vitner frequents the lake and said, "I come frequently and it used to be a wide river, now it's slowly filling the beaches and the sand is becoming beach again."
This is definitely a welcome sight for drought stricken California. The National Weather Service recorded over a foot and a half of rainfall across northern California in the month of October. This helped to bring the Folsom Lake level up to 400 feet. That's the magic number to bring down the speed restrictions on the lake, Higher water levels cover the hazards that pop up when the low water level falls below 400 feet.
The lake didn't reach this level in the last rain season until late January.
This was not a concern today. The higher water levels and unseasonably warmer temperatures enticed a lot more lake goers than usual for this time of year.