02/17/06 February drier, snowpack still good

February has been dry so far. That's what Ron Abromovich of the NRCS told fellow members at the Idaho Water Supply Committee meeting yesterday. ABROMOVICH "Below normal across most of the state. Southern Idaho has picked up a little bit of precip but its nothing like what we saw in January when the values were 150 percent of average across most of the state." Just because February suddenly turned dry doesn't mean there are potential problems for surface water irrigators this summer. ABROMOVICH "The snowpack percentages are coming down a few percentage points a day but they're still above average across most of the state. The lowest is the Coeur d'Alene River basin at 95 percent of average and the highest is in central and southern Idaho at about 150 percent of average for snowpack." Some Idaho reservoirs are releasing water now so there will be space for the anticipated runoff when the snow starts melting this spring. At Bear Lake they're holding as much of the reservoir water as they can because it's only 44 percent of average capacity. ABROMOVICH "However some of the groundwater users where the water levels have gone down they may have some shortages still. It comes down to your water use and water source and where that water comes from." In many areas you're likely to see high stream and river flows well into the spring. Also important is the timing of the snow melt. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott