Yosemite Park to Close Amid High Flood Risk

Yosemite Park to Close, Amid High Flood Risk.

Reuters reports that much of Yosemite National Park in California will be closed to visitors this weekend due to forecasts of floods brought on by rapid snowmelt.

The park will be closed from April 28 to at least May 3.

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According to the National Park Service, the length of the closure depends on how quickly melting snow runs off into the Merced River.

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The agency added that reservations would be canceled and refunded for lodging and campgrounds in the park.

Reuters reports that the shutdown comes as Central California is forecast to experience a heat wave that is expected to hasten melting after record winter snowfall.

Reuters reports that the shutdown comes as Central California is forecast to experience a heat wave that is expected to hasten melting after record winter snowfall.

This weather whiplash is what the climate crisis looks like, Gavin Newsom, California governor, via Reuters.

According to the park service, the Merced River at the Pohono Bridge is expected to top flood stage later this week.

Park spokeswoman Nancy Phillipe said that the shutdown marks one of the longest weather-related closures in the park's history.

Yosemite National Park was established in 1890 and now covers over 759,000 acres of land in the southeastern Sierras.

According to Phillipe, the park sees roughly 4 million visitors every year.