KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A teenage girl who went missing on Tuesday morning has been located.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said 15-year-old Leah Waters was found and is safe.

The girl was last seen at about 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, running into a nearby creek bed.

The original sheriff’s office report on the girl’s disappearance said she was a Kelseyville High School student who had left the school on Tuesday morning after a disagreement.

However, Kelseyville Unified Superintendent Dave McQueen told Lake County News that she is a middle school student who at the time of her initial disappearance hadn’t come to school for the day.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office thanked the community for its assistance in locating her.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The search for a new Lakeport Unified School District superintendent is moving ahead on schedule, according to an update from the board president.

At its March 16 meeting, the Lakeport Unified School District Board voted unanimously to launch a condensed, confidential hiring process for a new head for the district, which has enrollment of about 1,500 students.

That decision resulted from the anticipation of Calistoga Joint Unified School District making an offer to Lakeport Unified Superintendent Erin Smith-Hagberg, as Lake County News has reported.

The day after the meeting, Calistoga Joint Unified released a statement formally acknowledging that Smith-Hagberg had been selected to lead the district.

The board chose to move rapidly due to Smith-Hagberg being to leave the district June 30, at the end of her contract.

In a letter to the community the district released on Monday, Board President Dennis Darling said the hiring process has moved according to the short schedule the board had laid out, and he anticipated a contract with the new candidate to be on the May 11 board agenda.

“We are very pleased with the process, the quality of the candidates who applied, and especially with
who we have selected to fill the position,” he said, adding that he believes the community also will be pleased.

The application deadline was April 21. Darling said the district received applications from 15 individuals coming from areas ranging from Seattle to San Diego.

Darling said those applications were screened by professionals using criteria that had been submitted by community members during public meetings that began in March. The screeners gave input to the board that it considered at a special meeting on April 24.

From the 15 applications, the board identified seven “very strong candidates” and invited six of them to interviews on April 27, with three of the candidates invited back for more intensive, final interviews the following day, Darling said.

“The three finalists were very strong and any one of the three could serve as our superintendent,” Darling said. “After significant deliberation and discussion, our board identified one final candidate to move forward in the process.”

However, Darling said the candidate won’t be named publicly until several more steps are completed, including the checking of 15 references, contract negotiation and a professional background check.

The district is being assisted in the recruitment process by Dr. Scott Mahoney, a Windsor-based educational hiring consultant with a background working in Lake County. Mahoney also led the recruitment that resulted in Smith-Hagberg being hired in Calistoga.

If all goes well, Darling said the board hopes to be able to announce the name of the new district superintendent by the end of the week, with contract approval at the May 11 board meeting.

Once the hiring is official, Darling said the new superintendent will spend three days in the district prior to the end of the school year to meet staff, and will spend time working and transitioning with Smith-Hagberg.

Darling said the new superintendent will officially start on July 1.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The Department of Water Resources held the state’s final snow survey of the water year on Monday, with readings once again showing a strong water supply thanks to this year’s storms.

The Monday manual snow survey by the Department of Water Resources at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada found a snow water equivalent of 27.8 inches, 190 percent of the May 1 long-term average there, or 14.6 inches.

Electronic measurements indicate the water content of the statewide snowpack today is 42.5 inches, 196 percent of the May 1 average.

The snow water equivalent of the northern Sierra snowpack is 39.9 inches (199 percent of average); the central and southern Sierra readings are 47.1 inches (202 percent of average) and 37.6 inches (180 percent of average), respectively.

Monday’s readings will help hydrologists forecast spring and summer snowmelt runoff into rivers and reservoirs. The melting snow supplies approximately one-third of the water used by Californians.

"California’s cities and farms can expect good water supplies this summer,” said DWR Acting Director Bill Croyle. “But this ample snowpack should not wash away memories of the intense drought of 2012-2016. California’s precipitation is the most variable in the nation, and we cannot afford to stop conserving water.”

Snowpack water content is measured manually on or near the first of the month from January to May.

The Phillips snow course, near the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe Road, is one of hundreds surveyed manually throughout the winter.

Manual measurements augment the electronic readings from about 100 sensors in the state’s mountains that provide a current snapshot of the snowpack’s water content.

The first of April is normally when snowpack water content is at its peak.

Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, conducted the survey at Phillips and said of his findings, 2017 has been “an extremely good year in terms of the snowpack.”

Gehrke said the snowpack is encouraging in terms of surface water supplies. “The thing we’re looking out for is primarily the southern Sierra, where we have full reservoirs and in some cases a huge snowpack,” he said. “We want to make sure that we prudently manage that so we don’t cause any downstream issues.”

California's reservoirs are fed both by rain and snowpack runoff. A majority of the state's major reservoirs are above normal storage levels for today’s date.

Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project's principal reservoir, is 91 percent of average for the date (74 percent of its 3.5-million acre-foot capacity).

Shasta Lake north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project's largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 109 percent of average (94 percent of capacity).

Earlier this month, the Department of Water Resources increased its estimate of this year’s State water Project supply to 100 percent of requests for contractors north of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and 85 percent of requests for other contractors, the highest since the 100-percent allocation in 2006.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The California Highway Patrol has released an initial report on a fatal Sunday morning head-on wreck and identified the woman who died in it.

Ann Mcghee, 86, of Napa was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred on Highway 29 south of Grange Road at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, the CHP said.

In explaining the events that led to the crash, the CHP’s Monday report said that Mcghee was driving her 2009 Toyota Prius southbound on Highway 29 at approximately 55 miles per hour.

Enrique Jimenez, 61, of Sonoma, was driving a 2001 Ford F-150 pickup northbound, also at approximately 55 miles per hour, the CHP said. Riding with him was passenger Teresa Chairez, 56, also of Sonoma.

The CHP said that, for an unknown reason, Mcghee’s vehicle drifted to the right and onto the shoulder.

She overcorrected and subsequently lost control of the Prius, which traveled to the left, crossing the roadway and traveling into the northbound lane, where it collided head-on with Jimenez’s pickup, the CHP said.

Mcghee died of her injuries at the scene, the CHP said.

Jiminez and Chairez were flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital via REACH air ambulance. The CHP said both had moderate injuries.

The CHP said Highway 29 was completely blocked for approximately one hour following the wreck.

South Lake County Fire Protection District and Cal Fire were on the scene to assist with the rescue as well as one-way traffic control, officials said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

AccuWeather reports wet weather and severe storms will keep extreme temperatures at bay in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic this summer, while heat and humidity plague the South.

Meanwhile, California will be at risk from wildfires due to abundant vegetation as the Northwest grapples with outbreaks of severe weather.

Early storms to hold back extreme heat in Northeast; Thunderstorms aim for mid-Atlantic

Unlike the summer of 2016, when drought conditions gripped the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, this summer will bring on-and-off wet weather to both regions.

“Especially in June and July, we should see some showers and storms from time to time,” AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok said.

The moisture will help to hold back extreme and prolonged heat.

“I think we'll have some hot weather, but it won't be as prolonged as we saw last year a couple of times,” he said.

However, northeastern I-95 cities, including New York City and Boston, may end up with slightly more 90-degree days than normal – although still fewer than last year.

"[Areas] farther south may be at or slightly below normal due to a little bit more moisture over the summer," Pastelok said.
 
Fire threat to continue in Southeast despite storms, possible tropical hit

More than 100 fires have ripped across Florida this spring, and the threat shows no sign of relenting into the summer season.

“The only thing that can really save them early on will be a tropical hit that could take place,” Pastelok said.

“The chances are a little bit low on that, so we'll probably have to deal with more smoke in the air down in central and southern Florida going into the early summer,” he said.

Areas more likely to be impacted by the tropics early on include the western Gulf Coast, including New Orleans and Houston. The Carolina coast may also be at risk.

“I'd be concerned about Charleston up to Cape Hatteras,” Pastelok said, adding that water temperatures are already running above normal in that area.

Severe weather will also threaten the Carolinas in June.

Across the Southeast, showers and storms will be widespread. With humidity levels running high, flooding downpours may result.

Heat and dryness grip the northern, southern Plains

Early in the season, periods of warmth across the northern Plains will trigger severe weather.

However, the storms are not expected to last long. Drier conditions will set in from mid- to late season, allowing temperatures to climb.

How persistent the heat is will determine whether a mild or moderate drought is likely to develop. Prolonged dryness could put stress on crops later in the season.

“This is a tricky area that we're watching very closely,” Pastelok said.
 
California wildfires to rage despite rain, snow; severe weather to strike Northwest

Despite significant rain and mountain snow across California early this year, wildfires will still pose a threat this summer.

Significant precipitation has led to abundant vegetation which can serve as fuel for fires, Pastelok said.

Early in the season, heat may be inconsistent across California, but temperatures are predicted to rise significantly in July, increasing the chances for fires.

Meanwhile, the Northwest will face periods of severe weather.

Shower and thunderstorms will strike in June at times, but the latter part of the season will bring the greatest risk for severe weather across the interior Northwest, including Spokane, Washington and Boise, Idaho.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A head-on crash near Middletown on Sunday morning led to a fatality, officials confirmed.

The crash was first reported just after 11:35 a.m. Sunday on Highway 29 at Grange Road near the Bar X Ranch, according to reports from the scene.

Firefighters who arrived at the scene found two vehicles were involved and both lanes of Highway 29 were blocked, based on radio reports.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Wink told Lake County News that South Lake Fire and Cal Fire, the California Highway Patrol and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded to the incident.

Wink said the two fire agencies sent a total of two ground ambulances, one rescue unit, a chief and volunteers.

He said two people were flown to out-of-county hospitals for further evaluation and treatment.

Both vehicles suffered major damage and extended extrication to remove the patients was required, he said.

Wink said the highway was temporarily closed due to the wreck, with firefighters staying on the scene to help with site cleanup and traffic control while the CHP conducted its investigation.

The CHP confirmed to Lake County News that the crash resulted in a death, but additional details on the causes of the wreck and the persons involved were still pending late Sunday night.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.