Strong Winds Moved a Lake in Death Valley Two Miles

Over the course of three days last week, winds in Death Valley in California were strong enough to move a temporary lake, known informally as Lake Manly, two miles north, the National Park Service said this week.

“The lake went for a walkabout,” Abby Wines, a park ranger at Death Valley National Park, said in an interview on Thursday.

The powerful winds were part of a storm system out of the Pacific Northwest that moved across portions of California and Nevada, Brian Planz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Las Vegas, said on Thursday.

In Death Valley, the winds started to pick up in the afternoon on Feb. 29, and they consistently blew between 20 and 33 miles per hour on March 1 and 2, according to weather data from the National Park Service. At times on March 1 and 2, the winds reached speeds of 40 to 50 m.p.h., peaking at 54.8 m.p.h. at 10 a.m. on March 2, according to the Park Service.

Strong winds on Saturday reached 88 m.p.h. at Angel Peak, in the Spring Mountains northwest of Las Vegas, and up to 69 m.p.h. at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, according to the National Weather Service. Mr. Planz said his office received reports from around the area of minor damage to trees, power lines, utility poles and buildings.

Ms. Wines described the winds as “strong enough to knock you off balance.”

They were also strong enough, it turns out, to move Lake Manly, an ephemeral and shallow body of water that forms when enough rain falls in the saltwater flats of Badwater Basin. When the lake appears, people flock there with canoes and kayaks.