Winter storms get South Yuba River roaring back to life (video)

This weekend’s winter storms got the South Yuba River roaring back to life. A warm, wet storm, which forecasters described as an “atmospheric river,” drenched the Sierra Foothills and High Sierra. Snow fell at higher elevations — near 8,000 feet.

The rushing South Yuba River, visible in both Nevada County, CA, and Placer County, was a welcome sight after a prolonged drought. This video was taken near the Rainbow Lodge, just off Interstate 80.

This winter’s storms have made a “modest dent” in the drought, according to weather forecasters. The Sierra Nevada snowpack was 113 percent of average statewide in January, the best snowpack in the month since 2011.

Our magazine’s fall issue featured the Yuba River in a special report. “The South Yuba has inspired famous poets, musicians and artists, such as Gary Snyder, who won a Pulitzer Prize with Turtle Island, or fiddler Alasdair Fraser, whose song ‘Whitewater’ is an ode to the Yuba,” we wrote.

You can read the articles: “Yuba Blue: Tails & Trails,”“SYRCL: A Voice for the River,” “SYRCL’s ‘Yuba Salmon Now’ Campaign,” “Stewards of Yuba River,”“Nevada City: Yuba River Town” and “Wild for the Yuba.”