Officials Investigating Powerful Southland Stink

lakes, water — (Image credit: AccuWeather.com)

This article was provided by AccuWeather.com.

Officials are investigating a powerful odor that spread throughout Southern California Monday, prompting more than one hundred calls to the Air Quality Management District.

The odor, which is reported to smell like rotten eggs, is suspected to be coming from the Salton Sea, a shallow body of water located in California's Imperial Valley.

"It's more than likely due to thunderstorms that occurred in the deserts the past few days, churning up the Salton Sea," AccuWeather.com Expert Meteorologist Ken Clark said.

The source of the smell may also be due to the annual fish kill-off that occurs in the Salton Sea during the summer months. As temperatures warm, more algae grows in the body of water, depleting oxygen and suffocating the fish.

"They get this smell down in the Coachella Valley every year, but it doesn't get in this area, west of the mountains, very often," Clark said.

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