Winter snowpack low as spring starts to heat up

At winter's end, the North Puget Sound basin snowpack is 56% of median, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service states in its April 1 Washington Water Supply Outlook Report. This is lower than the March 1 basin snowpack measurement of 60% of median.

Peak snow accumulation has passed or is near for all major basins in Washington, the report states. Snow drought conditions, even severe, is the status in the Puget Sound Basin, Olympic Peninsula, portions of the Lower Yakima and across much of northern Washington and into the Idaho panhandle.

Most Northern Cascades monitoring sites north of SR 20 reported below 50% to 60% of snow water equivalent on April 14, shown on the NRCS website.

The northern Cascades snowpack deficit is termed "more severe," as are basins along the western front of the central Cascades, the Lower Yakima, Olympic Peninsula and northeastern Washington.

The report's 1-month climatic outlook predicts higher chances of above-normal temperatures and higher chances of below-normal precipitation for much of the state.

The April through September streamflow forecasts for the northern Puget Sound basin are below normal, ranging from 69% to 85% of median.