Washington snowpack not encouraging

Washington Ag February 11, 2009 Washington’s mountain snow pack has dropped from 106 percent of normal following January’s snowstorms to 82 percent of normal as of February 1st. That’s the report from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service which monitors snow pack conditions, which of course are important for steam flows for irrigation and energy production. NRCS water supply specialist Scott Pattee says unless we make up a lot of ground in the next couple of months resource managers may have to begin planning for worst-case scenarios and water shortages for spring and summer runoff. He says the NOAA Prediction Center forecasts aren’t all that encouraging, though February could see normal to above normal precipitation. Pattee: “Well, we have above normal chances of receiving precipitation however, they are not really saying quantity wise how much we are going to get. The snow storms in the mountains we are receiving right now or are going to receive, just are not delivering as much as we need to really catch up. Beyond this month it sounds like the prediction models just can‘t agree well enough for them to provide a good up to date forecast.� Looking at some specific basins, snow pack in the Yakima area is 75 percent of normal, it’s 63 percent of normal in the Wenatchee area, 79 percent in North Puget Sound, 83 percent in the Walla Walla basin and 82 percent in the Spokane River basin. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.