04/21/06 Plenty of water, maybe too much

The change from March to April was significant. That's how Phil Morresey of the NRCS Snow Survey team summed up the snow situation in Idaho. Instead of leveling off or dropping, the April snowpack actually increased in many basins in Central and Southern Idaho. Morresey says that many rivers are running very high but the snow hasn't even melted. MORRESEY "We're looking at forecasts in those areas that are the Big Wood, Oakley, Salmon Falls, across southern stream flow forecasts are right around 180 percent of average for the rest of the season." He says we'll go into May with some snow packs still measuring 130 to 150 percent of normal. MORRESEY "The main part of the runoff really won't get started until mid-May to mid-June. That's when the reservoirs really need to have the most space. So I would suspect streams to be running high from now through then." There will be no problems with irrigation water supplies this year. The problem may be too much water in some areas and a repeat of some of the summer flooding Idaho experienced in 1997 and '99. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott