Lifeboat Foundation

For the first time in about 130 years, Tulare Lake reappeared in California’s San Joaquin Valley, stirring both wonder and concern among locals and experts alike as it submerged almost 100,000 acres of privately owned farmland.

Vivian Underhill, a researcher formerly at Northeastern University, has been studying this unexpected phenomenon.

“Tulare Lake was the largest body of fresh water west of the Mississippi River. It’s really difficult to imagine that now,” she says.