Drought Advisory Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The state of Washington, along with much of the Pacific Northwest, is under a Drought Advisory, with record or near record low levels of precipitation this spring.
The state Department of Ecology Water Resources Planner, Jeff Marti says according to the state standards, the advisory covers a vast majority of Washington …
MARTI … “According to that measure, you know, about probably 86% of the state is either abnormally dry or up to, now, extreme drought. And, those extreme droughts are
in Eastern Washington.”
And, Marti says the chances of making that up aren’t very good …
MARTI … “For the state and especially Eastern Washington to get back to what we would consider normal precipitation for this water year, the probability in Eastern Washington is, it’s essentially, essentially nil.”
Some crops, Marti says will be impacted more than others …
MARTI … “You know, for folks that irrigate, obviously they can supplement their fields with water from reservoirs and snow melt, and in the case of dryland agriculture their storage is their soil and what the clouds add to it during the season.”
But so far this spring, Marti says that’s been rare …
MARTI … “Thus far, you know, we aren’t getting cooperation from the clouds and the soils been drying out. And, the soil moisture levels in Eastern Washington are, you know, at near record low levels when you look at modeled soil moisture.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on the Drought Advisory and what it means in the weeks and months ahead.
Go to the Department of Ecology website at …
www.ecology.wa.gov/Water-Shorelines/Water-supply/Water-availability/Statewide-conditions/Drought-response/Drought-conditions
… for more information on our drought conditions.
