Snowpack
I live right off of bogus basin Road and lately it's a traffic jam in both directions because of the nonstop snow that has been going on. That means great things in terms of Idaho snow pack. Got an email from hydrologist David Hoekema on the latest snowpack situation. Hoekema’s notes on the latest snowpack situation on Monday, Feb. 3.
The percentage of surface water diversions in the Snake River basin with colors on the pie chart representing current snowpack as represented on the attached snowpack map.
Since Friday, we have been witnessing the impacts an atmospheric river coming out of the southwest can have on water supply in southern Idaho. This atmospheric river has wiped out the moderate drought percentiles on the eastern side of the central mountains (see Table 1). From the Big Wood basin to the headwaters of the Snake River the average rise in percentiles is 19%. In Idaho, the rule of thumb is we like to see 60% of our peak snowpack accumulated on February 1st. The average snowpack of all Idaho basins is 61% of peak snowpack and the current percent of median snowpack is 100%.
Reservoir content in southern Idaho can be found at:
Snake River Reservoir System: https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/burtea.html
Boise/Payette Reservoir System: https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/boipaytea.html
Eastern Oregon Reservoir System: https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/owytea.html
This active weather pattern is predicted to continue for the next 10-days according to the 10-day QPF map provided by the Northwest River Forecast Center. The bad news is that it appears northern Idaho will not keep up with climatology.
