02/01/06 January storms help Idaho snowpack

Every part of Idaho has above normal snowpack except for the Panhandle and Clearwater basins but they're only one percent below normal. Ron Abromovich of the NRCS snow survey team says January snowfall helped to push the Oakley basin to the state's highest at 156 percent of normal. ABROMOVICH "The Salmon basin is 126 percent of average, Weiser is 137 percent, Payette 134, the Boise basin is 139 percent of average. Big Wood basin is 142 along with the Little Wood basin. The Big Lost is 133 percent of average snowpack, Henry's Fork and Teton basins are 129 percent, the Snake basin above Palisades is 123 percent of average, Willow, Blackfoot, Portneuf are 125, Salmon Falls basin is 142 percent of average, Bruneau 149, Owyhee 123 and the Bear River is 134 percent of average. While some are saying the drought is over Abromovich is more cautious saying that this is the first good snowpack since 1999. ABROMOVICH "But we're still going to see some low ground water levels. Reservoirs are still low right now until the snow melts. And I guess that's the catch. We don't know how the snow is going to melt or if these storms are going to continue for the next two months as well too." Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott