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Snowfall fails to ease water crisis
Northwest snowpack levels falling behind annual average
Mateusz
Perkowski
Capital
Press
February 12, 2009
The heavy
accumulation of snow at the cusp of the new year turned out to be a
tease, as snowpack levels across the Northwest have been limping along
ever since.
"We're slowly falling behind where we should be," said Jon Lea, Oregon snow survey supervisor for the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.
After a dismal start to the water year in autumn 2008, snowpack levels rapidly caught up to average with heavy snowstorms in early winter, according to NRCS.
Dry weather in January and much of February has largely prevented further accumulation, though.
Oregon is now 16 percent below average, Idaho is 21 percent below average and Washington is 23 percent below average, according to NRCS.
There's a chance that another round of storms will replenish the region's snowpack levels, but the lull in activity is nonetheless making water supply watchers nervous, said Lea.
"It'd be nice if it would just maintain for a while," he said.
That's because there isn't much time left for snow levels to build up, at least judging by historical averages, Lea said.
"February is usually the last of the big months," he said, noting that 80 percent of the maximum snowpack is typically on the ground by the end of the month.
There have been some storms brewing in mid-February, but so far the effect on snowpack levels has been light, said Scott Pattee, NRCS water supply specialist for Washington.
"They just haven't been packing much of a punch," he said.
February is considered a make-it-or-break-it month, since storms in late winter and early spring usually only provide "maintenance snow," but there are occasional aberrations, said Pattee.
"Some of the worst droughts have been thwarted by late April snow showers," he said.
Pattee is also heartened by weather forecasts that predict below-average temperatures. If the Northwest remains cold, it at least won't lose existing snowpacks and any upcoming precipitation will come in the form of snow, he said.
Above-average temperatures would present a worst-case scenario, as they would portend warm, snow-melting rain, Pattee said.
Even so, the water supply outlook for 2009 is threatened by more than weak snowpack levels.
Reservoir levels are also diminished: 26 percent below average for Oregon, 30 percent below average for Washington, and 15 percent below average for Idaho, according to NRCS.
Luckily, there are some bright spots.
For example, reservoir levels in the heavily irrigation-dependent Yakima basin are generally well above average, said Pattee.
In Idaho, areas along the southern border with depleted reservoirs have seen decent snowfall, said Jeff Anderson, NRCS hydrologist for the state.
"The fact we have snow in those southern basins across the state is really good news," he said.
Unfortunately, storms have been hitting the state in a "donut" fashion, leaving out Central Idaho, where reservoir levels and snowpack levels are diminished, said Ron Abramovich, Idaho NRCS water supply specialist.
"It's really a mixed bag across the state," he said.
California's snowpack levels remain at about 40 percent below average, which is roughly how they started out in 2009.
"The best I can say is we didn't lose any ground," said Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Department of Natural Resources snow survey program. "But we didn't gain any either."
The situation is especially disquieting because the northern Sierra Mountains, which supply much of the state's irrigation water, have the lowest snowpack levels in the state, he said.
The northern Sierras are at about 53 percent below average, compared to 39 percent below average for the central Sierras and 29 percent below average for the southern Sierras, Gehrke said.
Statewide reservoir levels are about 35 percent below average, with storage along the Sacramento river at 50 percent below average, he said.
"That obviously exacerbates the problem with the less-than-stellar snow pack," said Gehrke.
Staff writer Mateusz Perkowski is based in Salem, Ore. E-mail: mperkowski@capitalpress.com.
"We're slowly falling behind where we should be," said Jon Lea, Oregon snow survey supervisor for the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.
After a dismal start to the water year in autumn 2008, snowpack levels rapidly caught up to average with heavy snowstorms in early winter, according to NRCS.
Dry weather in January and much of February has largely prevented further accumulation, though.
Oregon is now 16 percent below average, Idaho is 21 percent below average and Washington is 23 percent below average, according to NRCS.
There's a chance that another round of storms will replenish the region's snowpack levels, but the lull in activity is nonetheless making water supply watchers nervous, said Lea.
"It'd be nice if it would just maintain for a while," he said.
That's because there isn't much time left for snow levels to build up, at least judging by historical averages, Lea said.
"February is usually the last of the big months," he said, noting that 80 percent of the maximum snowpack is typically on the ground by the end of the month.
There have been some storms brewing in mid-February, but so far the effect on snowpack levels has been light, said Scott Pattee, NRCS water supply specialist for Washington.
"They just haven't been packing much of a punch," he said.
February is considered a make-it-or-break-it month, since storms in late winter and early spring usually only provide "maintenance snow," but there are occasional aberrations, said Pattee.
"Some of the worst droughts have been thwarted by late April snow showers," he said.
Pattee is also heartened by weather forecasts that predict below-average temperatures. If the Northwest remains cold, it at least won't lose existing snowpacks and any upcoming precipitation will come in the form of snow, he said.
Above-average temperatures would present a worst-case scenario, as they would portend warm, snow-melting rain, Pattee said.
Even so, the water supply outlook for 2009 is threatened by more than weak snowpack levels.
Reservoir levels are also diminished: 26 percent below average for Oregon, 30 percent below average for Washington, and 15 percent below average for Idaho, according to NRCS.
Luckily, there are some bright spots.
For example, reservoir levels in the heavily irrigation-dependent Yakima basin are generally well above average, said Pattee.
In Idaho, areas along the southern border with depleted reservoirs have seen decent snowfall, said Jeff Anderson, NRCS hydrologist for the state.
"The fact we have snow in those southern basins across the state is really good news," he said.
Unfortunately, storms have been hitting the state in a "donut" fashion, leaving out Central Idaho, where reservoir levels and snowpack levels are diminished, said Ron Abramovich, Idaho NRCS water supply specialist.
"It's really a mixed bag across the state," he said.
California's snowpack levels remain at about 40 percent below average, which is roughly how they started out in 2009.
"The best I can say is we didn't lose any ground," said Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Department of Natural Resources snow survey program. "But we didn't gain any either."
The situation is especially disquieting because the northern Sierra Mountains, which supply much of the state's irrigation water, have the lowest snowpack levels in the state, he said.
The northern Sierras are at about 53 percent below average, compared to 39 percent below average for the central Sierras and 29 percent below average for the southern Sierras, Gehrke said.
Statewide reservoir levels are about 35 percent below average, with storage along the Sacramento river at 50 percent below average, he said.
"That obviously exacerbates the problem with the less-than-stellar snow pack," said Gehrke.
Staff writer Mateusz Perkowski is based in Salem, Ore. E-mail: mperkowski@capitalpress.com.
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