Tempe Town Lake Turns Into Mini-Niagara Falls as Rain Runoff Flows

Last week's wet weather turned the west end of the Tempe Town Lake into a wide, rumbling waterfall over the weekend as runoff spilled over the lake's inflatable dams.

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Tempe closed the lake and let air out of the rubber dams on Friday as billions of gallons of muddy rainwater churned down the Salt River bed. The first picture here was taken on Saturday; the waterfall seemed just as intense when we snapped the second picture yesterday. (Both taken with our mobile-phone camera).

As usual during wet years, the sights and thunderous sounds of the Salt River has been drawing small crowds at the south end of the dams. The impressive and somewhat rare scene in this Sonoran Desert city will be worth a visit for the next few days.