An ancient lake that disappeared from a California national park more than 100,000 years ago has dramatically returned following record-breaking rainfall.
The massive Ice Age lake roughly 100 miles long and 600 feet deep dried up between 128,000 and 186,000 years ago as the climate warmed in present-day Death Valley National Park, according to Los Angeles Times.
However last week the National Park Service (NPS) revealed the area had its wettest fall season on record, resulting in a rare return of the body of water.
'These fall storms brought more rain than Death Valley typically receives in an entire year,' the agency wrote in a news release.
Badwater Basin, one of the hottest places on Earth and the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level, recorded 2.41 inches of rain in just three months.
Death Valley shattered a nearly century-old record in November, receiving 1.76 inches of rain and eclipsing the 1.70-inch mark set in 1923.
'It's an attraction, but it's not really a lake,' Katt, an employee at the Death Valley Inn, told the LA Times.
'It's the size of a lake but it's not deep,' she added. 'It's more like a very, very large riverbed without the flow - a wading pool maybe.'
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