California's Farms Replaced by Captivating Vast Lake.
Tulare Lake, which dates back to the Ice Age, has re-emerged in California's Central Valley after intense storms this winter, swallowing one of the nation's largest stretches of cropland in a few months. The lake, which is now about 168 square miles, is trapped by thousands of acres of clay soil and the lack of a natural outlet. It is being fed by the melting snowpack that piled up in the mountains to near-record levels. The lake is expected to remain in the Central Valley for months, and maybe years, to come.