Spring Forecast and Drought Pt 2

Spring Forecast and Drought Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I’m Bob Larson. As we know, the weather has a mind of its own. But the rhetoric of continued drought in Washington needs to be dialed back.

At least, that’s what University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass suggests after the start of a pretty typical La Nina winter, saying they’re being a little bit over enthusiastic about using these extreme drought terms …

MASS … “We did have a very snowy period and then it got dry, and now we’re going into a classic end of La Nina winter, early spring, where we’re wet and cool, and the snowpack builds up again. All the models suggest that at this point.”

And unless something changes, Mass says it looks good …

MASS … “I’m pretty confident for the next month. You’ve always got to be careful here, but, you know, I know La Nina years and they are very typical like this. March and April are wetter and cooler than normal. That’s tremendously typical for these years.”

Mass says this is not some kind of terrible drought year, it’s just not going to be that way …

MASS … “I mean we’re going to go in with a pretty typical snowpack. The reservoirs are above normal. Snowpack will be near normal. So, you know, there’s worse years and the chances are we’re not going to get a crazy heat wave like last year, that’s extraordinarily improbable. So, you know, I think this is going to be a relatively good year for agriculture I suspect.”

Mass says considering the weather that he’s pretty certain we’re going to get, there’s no way our snowpack or soil moisture is going to be way below normal on April 1st .

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