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YOSEMITE VALLEY, California: In a rare closure caused by forecasts of floods from rapidly melting snow, most of Yosemite National Park in California will close to visitors this weekend.

Last week, the National Park Service said that the closure will start at 10 p.m. on April 28 and last at least until May 3, possibly longer, depending on how quickly melting mountain snow runs off into the Merced River through Yosemite Valley.

Lodging and campground reservations would be automatically canceled and refunded, it added.

Central California is predicted to experience a coming heat wave, with highs in the 90s Fahrenheit and overnight lows well above freezing, hastening a spring thaw following record winter snowfall in parts of the Sierra Nevada range, while causing heavy runoffs down mountain slopes and the subsequent closure of an area know for landmarks, such as El Capitan and the Half Dome.

In a YouTube presentation, Daniel Swain, climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that a “big melt” had arrived.

State Climatologist Michael Anderson said, “Significant flooding was more likely later in May, rather than this coming week, and reservoir operators are releasing water now to make room for more later,” as quoted by Reuters.

He also expects any snow melt flooding to be “less severe than the deluge that resulted from Pacific storms in March.”

While visiting the Tulare Basin, Governor Gavin Newsom said, “This weather whiplash is what the climate crisis looks like.”

The park service said that some 100 miles to the north, the Merced River at the Pohono Bridge at the west end of the Yosemite Valley was forecast to reach its top flood stage later this week.