03/03/08 Think snow and rain in March

On March first the overall Idaho snowpack was about the same as it was February first. ABROMOVICH "We're not all the way out of the woods yet. We have a good snowpack up there right now but we still have the last month to go basically." Ron Abromovich of the NRCS snow survey says the first half of February was wet, the second half was dry and we've starting losing one to two percent of the snowpack each day as a result. This will be a key month because the snow levels at the end of February were close to or above average. ABROMOVICH "Clearwater basin is 116, Salmon basin the snowpack is 110 percent, the Weiser is the highest in the state at 120 percent, Payette 106, the Boise basin just dropped to 99 percent of average, Big Wood 103, Little Wood snowpack is 101, along with the Big Lost basin. Henry's Fork and Teton is 105, Snake above Palisades is only 96 percent of average along with Willow/Blackfoot/Portneuf, Oakley and Salmon Falls basin are 103 percent of average, Bruneau is 106, Owyhee 103 and the Bear River is 97 percent of average." So we need March moisture. The Boise basin at 99 percent today could be 80 percent of normal April first if March is a dry month. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott