03/16/07 Idaho irrigation outlook

The Water Supply Committee met in Boise to talk about, what else, water. Ron Abromovich of the NRCS says the warm start to March has caused some of the mountain snow to melt. ABROMOVICH "This time of year the low and middle elevation snow comes off usually and starts melting but usually not this quickly. What we need is for the cooler more normal temperatures to return and that will keep the high snow up there longer." Abromovich says the worse case scenario would be another month of above normal temperatures and no rain. That would cause most of the snowpack to melt and leave no runoff for later in the spring and early summer. With some southwestern farmers already in their fields and ready to plant irrigation demand could start early. ABROMOVICH "But if it remains hot and dry the demand is going to increase as well too. But with the better carryover storage this year most irrigators should have adequate water to use for this growing season." It's early and who knows what Mother Nature may have in for us with spring officially beginning next week. ABROMOVICH "And we could still get some good precip in April and May. We saw that happen in 2005 in May when the precip was two to three hundred percent of average." Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott