Snowpack suffering from warmer temperatures

Virtually no measureable snow accumulated in the mountains of Washington and Idaho last month, except for a light dusting in a few areas above 4,000 feet. Precipitation was near normal for February, but most of it fell as rain since temperatures were 4 to 10 degrees warmer than normal, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. About 27 percent of the agency’s snow monitoring sites in the mountains were at or near record lows for March 1. Short-term forecasts are calling for rain, with weather forecasters predicting warm and dry weather for the next several months, said Scott Pattee, the agency’s water supply specialist. “A continuation of current conditions will most certainly drive our snowpack into a deeper depression,” he said. In the Northwest, the melting snowpack provides water for fish, irrigation, power generation and drinking water. February stream flows were above normal due to the heavy rains and snow melt last month Operators of some reservoirs are storing water because of the lower snowpack, Pattee said. Forecasts for stream flows from April through September continued to drop as a result of February’s lack of snow. The Spokane River basin and the Idaho Panhandle are at about 84 percent of normal for precipitation, but the snowpack is about 47 percent of normal.