The Brief

People and pets are being warned to avoid all water contact at Lake Elsinore after a harmful algal bloom that could pose a serious health threat was detected in five different areas.

The Riverside County lake has shown extremely elevated levels of toxins, triggering a “danger” advisory, the highest warning available.

Harmful algal blooms are associated with several health risks, including rashes, headaches, and even abnormal breathing if swallowed while swimming.

Marisa Van Dyke, a senior environmental scientist with the State Water Resources Control Board, told LAist that dogs and children are most sensitive to this issue, so it’s safest to stay on dry land until further notice.

“We really recommend if you're going out with your family or with your pets, to take a extra look and see if there's anything unusual going on,” she said.

What you should know

A “danger” advisory is issued when testing shows 20 micrograms per liter of microcystins, but the latest results from Lake Elsinore show levels far beyond that — 36,750 micrograms per liter.

“That's about 1,800 times greater than the advisory levels threshold, so this is very alarming results to get,” Van Dyke said.

Officials say you should stay out of the water entirely, including on boats, jet skis, and paddle boards.

You shouldn’t eat any fish or shellfish from the lake, and if you’ll be camping or picnicking in the area, avoid using the water for drinking or cooking.

“For harmful algal blooms, we know boiling water doesn't help,” Van Dyke said. “And then most filtering systems that you can get for backpacking are not adequate for filtering out this concern.”

You should steer clear from water that has an odd color, suspicious scum, or smells.

Signage warns that Lake Elsinore is closed on Aug. 25, 2022.

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People who swallow or come into contact with it may experience congestion, hives, vomiting, earaches, and irritated eyes within two days of exposure. Children are considered more at risk because of their smaller size, higher chance of swallowing while swimming, and tendency to stay in the water longer.

If you do start showing symptoms or feeling sick, get medical treatment immediately and contact the Riverside County Department of Public Health.

“Danger” signs have been posted around Lake Elsinore to warn people, but Van Dyke said you should always scan the water before jumping into your favorite swimming spot.

You can also always check California’s harmful algal bloom map to see if any outbreaks have been reported in the area.

What about furry friends?

Animals can get very sick, or even die, from being exposed to harmful algal blooms.

Dogs, like children, are most susceptible to exposure. The slimy material from the water can get in their mouth while playing fetch or get stuck to their fur, Van Dyke noted.

Bring bottled water for your dogs to drink, and if they do get in with a bloom, don’t let them lick their fur until they’ve been thoroughly cleaned off.

If your pet starts showing symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, or seizures after coming into contact with water — call your veterinarian right away. You can also share this fact sheet with the vet to help identify the illness.

Why this water

The harmful algal blooms that pop up in lakes and rivers are often caused by cyanobacteria, which are small microbes that live in just about every habitat.

“But there's certain conditions that we experience in California that really drive their growth in some at-risk waterways, and when they grow a lot, and you can see them with the naked eye, then we call these blooms,” Van Dyke said.

Some cyanobacteria can produce harmful toxins, and according to the State Water Resources Board, Lake Elsinore’s shallow waters and warmer temperatures has made it particularly vulnerable to outbreaks, especially during this time of year.

The city of Lake Elsinore regularly tests for harmful algal blooms as part of its “Lake Watch” program and shares satellite pictures of the water conditions.

More resources

If the water seems suspicious and you’re not sure if it's a harmful algal bloom, you can submit a report here.

You can also report a bloom by calling the toll-free hotline 1-844-729-6466, emailing cyanoHAB.reports@waterboards.ca.gov, or by contacting your public health department.

“People are really, you know, our best kind of like line of defense and letting us know where to go take a look at, because we have so many lakes and river beaches in the state, it is challenging to be able to monitor them all proactively,” Van Dyke said.

She added that the State Water Resources Control Board is normally able to respond to online reports in one business day to let you know if the water is worth worrying about, especially if you include photos.

You can find more information about harmful algal blooms here.

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Thousands of immigrants who are lawfully in California are set to lose their food assistance benefits, known as CalFresh, starting this month.

The new restrictions stem from H.R. 1 — also known as the “Big Beautiful Bill” — which Congress passed last year.

The changes remove eligibility for certain noncitizens, including people with refugee status and victims of trafficking. It also applies to immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan who have special immigrant visas for helping the U.S. government overseas.

 ”These are folks … many of whom have large families that we have a commitment to as a country because we welcomed them and invited them here to find a place of refuge,” said Cambria Tortorelli, president of the International Institute of Los Angeles, a refugee resettlement agency. “They’re authorized to work and they’ve been brought here by the U.S. government.”

The federal spending bill, H.R. 1, made sweeping cuts to social safety net programs, including food assistance and Medicaid. In signing the bill, President Donald Trump said the changes were delivering on his campaign promises of “America first.”

Officials estimate 23,000 people in Los Angeles County will be affected. The state estimates about 72,000 immigrants with lawful presence will be affected across California.

CalFresh is the state’s version of the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Undocumented immigrants have not been eligible to receive CalFresh benefits.

State officials say noncitizens who are currently receiving benefits will continue to get them until it’s time to renew their benefits — adding that people might be able to receive benefits again if their legal status changes to lawful permanent residents.

Who the changes apply to:

• Asylees
• Refugees
• Parolees (unless they are Cuban and Haitian entrants)
• Individuals with deportation or removal withheld
• Conditional entrants
• Victims of trafficking
• Battered noncitizens
• Iraqi or Afghan with special immigrant visas (SIV) who are not lawful permanent residents (LPR)
• Certain Afghan Nationals granted parole between July 31, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2023
• Certain Ukrainian Nationals granted parole between Feb. 24, 2022, and Sep. 30, 2024