A dry winter will make for a dry summer

Washington snowpack at April’s end was called “snow drought pervasive” for much of the state in the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s May 1 monthly Water Supply Outlook Report.

It cites the mid-April statewide drought emergency declared by the Department of Ecology due to low snowpack and below normal water supply outlook for much of the state.

NRCS staff measure the statewide snowpack at 71% of normal, with pervasive snowpack deficits persisting for most basins. The North Puget Sound basin snowpack is 61% of median slightly above the first of April 56% of median. Every north Cascade measuring station was blue, with a ranking of eight or lower for snow water equivalent. Twenty is the highest rank. All were rated in the 50%-69% range for end of April snow water equivalent against the 1991-2020 median.

Precipitation in April varied across the state, with North Puget Sound’s precipitation measured at 73% of the 30-year median.

On April 30, nearly 15% of Washington is in moderate drought, primarily distributed along the northern Cascade crest and eastern Cascades down into parts of the Yakima and South Puget Sound basins. Abnormally dry conditions span much of the Washington Cascades, Olympic Peninsula and parts of eastern Washington.

The May through September streamflow forecasts in the basin are below normal and range from 60% to 89% of median.

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 report calls for water resource managers to prepare for potential water shortages and drought development in several basins this summer, given the generally poor summer water supply outlook for large portions of the state,

NRCS is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.