Lake Palmdale is an

artificial lake A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

completed in 1924 along with the nearby Little Rock Reservoir created by

Little Rock Dam Little Rock Dam, also known as Littlerock Dam, or officially as Little Rock-Palmdale Dam, is a concrete gravity dam on Little Rock Creek in Los Angeles County, California, about south of Palmdale. The dam and Little Rock Reservoir are owned by ...

. Its source of water is the

California State Water Project The California State Water Project, commonly known as the SWP, is a state water management project in the U.S. state of California under the supervision of the California Department of Water Resources. The SWP is one of the largest public water ...

and it is fed by the

California Aqueduct The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipelines that conveys water collected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern and Central California to Southern California. Named after Cali ...

. It is located in the city of

Palmdale Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On Aug ...

near the city's southern edge, in the small Anaverde Valley between the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...

and the base of Mount Tenhi.

History

Formerly called Harold Reservoir or Alpine Reservoir (after the settlement of Alpine/Harold), and Yuna Lake, Lake Palmdale was completed in 1924 to aid local

Antelope Valley The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and the ...

agriculture by providing a stable and consistent water source for the local farmers. At the time of its completion, agriculture was the primary economic driver in the Palmdale area. This water source was needed due to the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

effect that the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

have on the Antelope Valley, located in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

. Today the lake serves as the primary water source for the Palmdale Water District, the city's public water utility, and provides water for more than 200,000 people who live in the area. It also is used to generate electricity.

Geography

Lake Palmdale is 2,918 feet (859 m) above sea level and is ringed by the hills of the San Andreas Fault and Mount Tenhi, except for a small pond on the lake's east side called Una Lake from which it is separated by the Palmdale Dam (dike) and Sierra Highway. The lake is 1.05 miles long at its greatest point (northwest to southeast), by 0.50 miles in width (southwest to northeast). Lake Palmdale has a circumference of about 2.5 miles with a surface area of about 260 acres. There is a narrow island 0.25 mi. in length at the southeast end.

Recreation

Lake Palmdale is regularly stocked of fish and has a small

pier image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century. A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...

-like

dock A dock (from Dutch language, Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The ex ...

that extends about .25 miles (0.4 km) into the lake from which members of the Palmdale Fin & Feather Club may use to fish from or take a small boat onto the lake. There are also many other small docks that run along the southwestern coast of the lake, also for use by the Fin & Feather Club. Use of Palmdale Lake for recreation is generally reserved for members of the Club. The nearby Littlerock Reservoir is a

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

operated park and is open to the public and can be used for boating, water skiing, fishing, and camping. The California Aqueduct is also open for fishing to the general public as long as they have a valid fishing license from the

California Department of Fish and Game The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), formerly known as the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), is a state agency under the California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages and protect ...

Weather

Lake Palmdale has very hot, dry summers, breezy springs and autumns, and frigid, highly windy winters. Rainy weather is limited almost completely to the months between October and May. Local rain is not relied on for maintaining the water level. This is done by water flow from the California Aqueduct, which collects and transports rainwater and snowmelt from the mountains of Northern California. The alignment of the local hills and the fault creates a sort of

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

effect on the lake during the winter months. Although the lake is high elevation and winter temperatures drop frequently below freezing 32 °F (0 °C), there has been no known freezing over of the lake in its history.

External links

California Department of Water Resources
* https://www.palmdalefinandfeatherclub.com/ {{authority control Geography of Palmdale, California California State Water Project Buildings and structures completed in 1924 Palmdale, Lake Palmdale, Lake

History

Geography

Recreation

Weather

See also

External links