2-16 IAN Improved Snow

 The Natural Resources Conservation Service released February’s Water Supply Report indicating late-January storms enhanced the water supply outlook for this summer. “The transformation in Idaho’s snowpack in the second half of January was amazing,” said Jeff Anderson, Idaho NRCS Water Supply Specialist. “In some places snowfall was measured in feet and not inches.” Monthly precipitation totals were not unusually high across the state. Basins in southern Idaho received the most precipitation. Statewide, Idaho’s snowpack ranges from 65 to 90% of normal. Jeff says that in January,  to cite the old cliché, when it rains, it pours. “When you look at the period from January 17 to January 27, in those 10 days we got the bulk of the precipitation for the whole month.”

 Another high pressure ridge is building over the west so the first part of February was dry like January. The long term climate forecasts still predict La Niña conditions will bring above average precipitation to the Pacific Northwest for the next several months. Storms will be needed to push snowpack percentages back up and ensure a healthy 2012 water supply for Idaho.