02/13/07 State snow pack average to above

Washington Ag February 13, 2007 January may have been drier than normal but snow pack conditions throughout Washington are near to above average. That's the word from the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service whose water supply specialist Scott Pattee says the prospect of another average stream flow season is very good news for anyone who is dependent on water, like irrigators. He says the February 1st statewide automated snow measurement readings were 120 percent of average. Pattee says the only areas below average are in northeastern Washington. Pattee: "Kind of Spokane north and down as low as 89% of average in the Spokane basin." Snow pack in the Yakima and Wenatchee areas is at 117 percent of average. On the Westside, North Puget Sound river basins are at 144 percent and the Central Puget river basins at 129 percent. Pattee says the forecast suggests there should not be any quick snowmelt and runoff. So this could be the second consecutive year of a good snow pack after several previous up and down years. Pattee: "With two good years here you know, we can get our reservoirs full. We can keep them full and like I said get ahead. And then just in case mother nature deals us a bad card down the road we will have a buffer." I'm Bob Hoff.