‘Glory Hole’ in California lake spills over for first time in 6 years, videos show
An eye-catching “Glory Hole” in a California lake has spilled over for the first time in six years, creating dramatic visuals that drew crowds of people wanting to witness the highly-anticipated event for themselves.
Photos and videos show water gushing into the hole after back-to-back atmospheric rivers poured several inches of rain over northern California, raising Lake Berryessa water levels enough that water overflowed into the spillway.
Lake Berryessa News, a website dedicated to monitoring the lake, tracked rain and water levels and started counting down to when water was likely to overflow into the hole on its Facebook page.
“It’s certainly possible, even probable, that Glory Hole will overflow during this first week of February 2025,” the group said on Facebook on Feb. 4, adding that the lake had less than 2 feet left to go before reaching 440 feet — the point at which water begins spilling into the drainage hole.
Later that evening, the group announced that the water surface level was above that and was spilling over into the Glory Hole.
The group shared photos and video of the hole the next morning on Feb. 5, adding that the lake level was 1.3 feet above the hole.
“The question is no longer when it will spill, but how high will the lake get,” the group said.
The Napa County Sheriff’s Office also shared a photo and video of water flowing steadily into the glory hole on its social media pages.
An extended drought in California kept surface water levels so low, the spillway was almost completely dormant for six years, KOVR and SFGate reported. It was technically active in 2024 when water splashed into the drain, but that event was nowhere near as dramatic as the images of water pouring into the hole, KOVR reported.
The lake’s water surface levels had been at 436 feet, hovering about 4 inches short of overflowing, since the beginning of the year, the station reported.
It works similarly to the overflow valve in a bathtub to prevent water in a reservoir from overflowing. But the glory hole is unique because there are only a few others shaped like a morning glory flower in the country, The New York Times reported.
“There’s really nothing like it,” Jay Cuetara, supervising water resources engineer for the Solano County Water Agency, told the outlet. “It’s a very odd-looking spillway that just disappears into the void. You almost have to see it.”
Water had spilled over the walls of the 72-foot wide spillway “only three other times in the past 20 years,” the outlet reported.
“It’s mesmerizing to watch,” Chris Lee, general manager of the water agency, told the Times. “It’s not something you can see in very many places in the world.”
Lake Berryessa is about a 65-mile drive west of Sacramento.
