05/05/02 Cool dry April but snowpack still holding

Below normal temperatures in April helped to hold the Idaho mountain snowpack in place. But you have to add to that below normal rain and snowfall last month. ABROMOVICH "The lowest precipitation in the state was the Big Wood and Big Lost basin about 40 percent in April and the highest amounts were 90 percent of average up in the Clearwater basin and Panhandle basin." Rom Abromovich of the NRCS snow survey team says April can be a month when we loose snowpack or accumulate it. This year we did both. May normally brings temperatures in the 80's and that will cause the snow to melt. Will there be enough water to cover summer agricultural irrigation needs? ABROMOVICH "There's still enough snow so even with below normal snowpack we should be okay. But we just have to keep in mind what happened last year was the precip was below normal from January to March and again in March to July. So that's what hurt us last year. Luckily we built our savings account up in the mountains this year with the good snowpack." Abromovich says the Clearwater basin accumulated 140 percent of a normal snowpack this year and there's the potential for some flooding if the snowpack melts rapidly with a sudden hot spell. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott