Appliance Repair in Shaver Lake, CA

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (FOX26) — Yosemite National Park, Bass Lake, and Shaver want to remind visitors that they are open for business.

The U.S. Forest Service announced earlier this week that California National Forests are temporarily closing for public safety, beginning August 31 at 11:59 p.m. through Sept. 17. at 11:59 p.m.

That caused a lot of confusion for people planning to travel to area lakes and Yosemite, which are not National Forests.

Yes, Yosemite National Park is OPEN!!!

The Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau says the following is also open: Bureau of Land Management areas, all highways (unless closed for other reasons), state parks, and county/city parks. Hotels, motels, and vacation rentals on National Forest land are also open.

The bureau says what is closed is National Forest campgrounds, recreation areas, hiking trails, and National Forest roads.

Yosemite National Park is operating under a temporary day-use reservation system and visitors must have a pre-reserved day-use vehicle pass to enter the park.

Guests without a pass will be turned away at the gate.

According to Visit Yosemite Madera County, The Fork Resort and Miller’s Landing have been ordered to close as well since they remain on U.S. Forest Service land. But Visit Yosemite Madera County says they are petitioning the Forest Service to see if it can work off a case-by-case basis.

SHAVER LAKE

The Shaver Lake Visitors Bureau said, "We are pleased to inform you that Southern California Edison’s privately owned land will remain open for recreation during this National Forest closure. What will remain closed is Forest Service land. Please note that Airbnb’s, businesses in the Greater Shaver Lake area, Shaver Lake and its marinas, and events in the Shaver Lake area will remain open and continue as normal. The Rock to Rebuild and One Year Stronger events at the Shaver Lake Community Center on September 4th will also continue, and we welcome all community members and visitors alike to join us in our remembrance of the catastrophic Creek Fire to raise funds for Creek Fire victims, our local fire departments, and mental health awareness.

If you have questions, you can call the Forest Service regional hotline at 707-562-9113.

BASS LAKE

The Pines Resort at Bass Lake says the resort and other businesses are open and not impacted by the U.S. Forest Service order.

Bass Lake, which is owned by PG&E, remains open for recreation and there is no road closure that would prevent access to the resort.

According

LOS ANGELES - The cost of living in the average American city is $5,111.17 per month - or about $61,334 per year.

That's according to GOBankingRates, which used rental data from ApartmentList, cost-of-living data from Sperling’s Best and average expenditure data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nine of the ten cities on the national list are - of course - in California:

Emeryville, California

Home to Pixar Animamtion Studios, the annual cost of living in Emeryville is $94,147.69, or $7,845.64 per month. The tradeoff is a comparably low livability score of 67, which is considered just average and the lowest on the list.

Marina del Rey, California

On the other end of the livability spectrum is Marina del Rey — at 84, only one other city can boast a higher score. It, too, offers a sub-six-figure annual cost of living. You can carve out a life there for $98,931.74, or $8,244.31 per month.

Lake Forest, California

Lake Forest has the third-lowest livability score on the list at 77. The tradeoff is the second-lowest rent in the ranking, with the annual cost of living there $102,979.79, or $8,581.65 per month.

Irvine, California

Irvine lands a 79, which is still considered exceptional. Its $114,755.91 annual cost of living breaks down to $9,562.99 per month, making Irvine the last city on the list where you can get by on less than $10,000 per month.

Union City, California

Union City’s livability score of 68 is the No. 2 worst on the list behind only Emeryville. The tradeoff is that it has the lowest rent out of all 10 cities. With a $122,054.66 annual cost of living, you’ll need $10,171.22 per month to make a life there.

Dublin, California

You’ll have to pay to enjoy Dublin’s exceptional livability — the city boasts a score of 82. Nearly on par with Union City, the annual cost of living in Dublin is $122,115.99, or $10,176.33 per month.

Foster City, California

One of only two cities with an average rent above $3,000, housing in Foster City is second only to Marina del Rey. That will buy you an enviable cost of living score of 80, but rent is hardly the only financial consideration. The cost of living in Foster City is $176,764.59 per year, or $14,730.38 per month.

Newport Beach, California

Newport Beach is one of only two cities on the list with an annual cost of living above $200,000 — $216,693.02, to be exact. That's about $18,057.75 per month.

Cupertino, California

To live in the birthplace of Apple, you’ll have to come up with $18,124.20 every month, or $217,490.36 per year. Cupertino’s 83 livability score lands the city a spot in the top three.

You can read more on the study by tapping or clicking here.

At least four new wildfires have broken out since the start September in the foothills and mountains east of Fresno and Madera, according to Cal Fire.

The region has been spared so far this year of a huge fire like the 380,000-acre Creek Fire in 2020, but the smaller ones still have Cal Fire firefighters working on suppression.

The newest significant fire began Wednesday afternoon near North Fork, Cal Fire said. The Fork Fire burned about 773 acres overnight and was just 5% contained as of Thursday morning.

Its proximity to about 400 structures, including homes, led the Madera County Sheriff’s Office to issue evacuation orders.

The blaze started near where Road 222 and North Fork Road meet south of the community of North Fork.

Four firefighters were treated for heat-related injuries fighting the Power Fire in Fresno County, a Cal Fire said.

The wildfire, located about 10 miles south of the Fork Fire area and north of Auberry, was 130 acres and 65% contained on Thursday morning, Cal Fire said. The cause of the fire that began about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday is still under investigation.

No evacuations have been ordered there though there were warnings. The areas impacted included Powerhouse Road from a quarter mile north of Wish I Ah Road to the Fresno-Madera county line. The north, east, and west borders are the San Joaquin River.

The Goat and Nutmeg fires were relatively small, each at 5 acres or less.

A wildfire started Saturday morning on Goat Mountain at Bass Lake before being quickly contained by Cal Fire.

The Goat Fire was reported about 8:35 a.m. on the Sierra National Forest land. It’s not clear what started it.

To the east of the Bass Lake/North Fork area, the Nutmeg Fire broke out Friday afternoon in Blue Canyon, southeast of Shaver Lake, and sent U.S. Forest Service fire crews scrambling to the area with heavy equipment.

The fire response team covered the perimeter with fire retardant early on in the blaze, officials said.

Both of those fires have been contained.

Chances for more rain in the Fresno area will continue into the early part of next week, bringing a reprieve from some record high temperatures just days prior.

There’s a 20% to 30% chance of slight showers continuing in Fresno through Tuesday night. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s over the next few days and could drop into the 80s by midweek.

Fresno and other central San Joaquin Valley cities got trace amounts of rain Saturday morning before storms moved into the Sierra Nevada – a pattern that could repeat Sunday, said meteorologist Carlos Molina of the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Heavier precipitation was falling in the Sierra on Saturday afternoon, with Wawona in Yosemite National Park and areas around it getting some of the most significant rainfall. Rain is expected to weaken a couple of Yosemite wildfires that have been burning in the backcountry since last month, but might not be as effective on the more recent Fork Fire in the foothills of eastern Madera County.

The storms are moving pretty fast, Molina said, indicating they could be more of a “strong wind event rather than a heavy precipitation event.” He said sensors south of Yosemite were showing wind speeds at 40 to 45 mph on Saturday.

Lightning strikes potentially starting new wildfires is also a concern.

“Right now we’re kind of just sitting and waiting. Maybe between tomorrow and Monday we’ll see if there’s any additional fire starts,” Molina said Saturday afternoon, “because there have been quite a few lightning strikes occurring across the Sierra Nevada.”

While most of that lightning was in the mountains, a handful of strikes happened in the Fresno area on Saturday, Molina said, but the Valley experienced more thunder than lightning.

The rain Fresno received as of early Saturday afternoon was minimal: About 0.01 inches of precipitation. Clovis had just slightly more: 0.02.

More unusual weather might still hit the Valley.

“Cloud to ground lightning, small hail, and brief gusty winds will be possible in these storms,” the National Weather Service reported, singling out McFarland as one Valley town where hail could fall on Saturday afternoon.

Rain was more plentiful in the mountains. Some Sierra locations in the region are expected to receive between half an inch and three-quarters of an inch on both Saturday and Sunday. Molina said those areas include Wawona, Fish Camp, Bass Lake, Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake.

Flash flooding is also a concern for travelers headed to desert areas in Southern California or the Las Vegas area, he added.

Water shortages aren’t just a Valley thing. The impact of California’s drought also is being felt at Sierra campgrounds, prompting an advisory to fill your RV’s tanks before heading into the mountains.

The goal, says Jody Nickerson-Powell, forest recreation officer for the Sierra National Forest, is not to run out of potable water at campgrounds before Labor Day.

And, what if you’re driving up to a campsite in a car or on a motorcycle? Those campers should plan to bring up at least a couple of gallons of water, but the water haulage request is more aimed at RVs equipped with tanks, Nickerson-Powell said. If RVers or other campers run out of water while on an extended stay, they can still draw from the campground spigots, she said.

Last year, the spigot ran dry at Dorabelle Campground on Shaver Lake and ran low at Dinkey Creek Campground, the first time that’s ever happened, Nickerson-Powell said. So, this year, campers are asked to haul up as much water as they can for their stay to help stretch limited water supplies, she said.

“The big goal is that we want to be able to make it through the entire summer season with water for the campers, and rather than running out in July, we would like to make it through Labor Day,” she said. “Every camper that comes up to the forest, you have new neighbors for the weekend or for that week or however long you stay. And so we just want to make sure that we’re good neighbors to everyone throughout the entire summer so that everyone has a chance to have some water.”

The water shortages are occurring even though a number of Huntington campgrounds, including Catavee, Upper Billy Creek, and Kinnikinnick, are closed because of tree hazards, which presumably would decrease the number of campers drawing on groundwater supplies.

It might seem counterintuitive for campground water supplies to run low or out when they sit next to big bodies of water such as Shaver and Huntington.

Not so, Nickerson-Powell says.

Campgrounds get their water from groundwater supplies, not the lakes’ surface water, which is designed to generate hydropower.

And if you’re tempted to haul a bucket of lake water to your campsite, be advised that unlike the water at campground spigots, it’s untreated and may contain water-borne viruses and bacteria, Nickerson-Powell said.

The lack of sufficient rain and snow over the past several years has not only depleted the amount of water flowing to the Valley for agricultural and residential usage, but it also has meant less groundwater to recharge the wells that supply water to campgrounds, she said.

Although Sierra National Forest campgrounds at Shaver, Huntington, Dinkey Creek, and on the Merced River have experienced water shortages, officials with the nearby Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon national parks told GV Wire this week that there are no water restrictions now in place for campgrounds in those parks.