Inland Northwest weather likely to remain drier than normal

The drought in California continues to go from bad to worse. The state’s governor, Jerry Brown, has ordered that up to 50 million square feet of lawns be ripped up to conserve water. He recently proposed a $10,000 fine for those who waste precious water. Officials stopped snowpack measurements in the Sierra Nevada mountains in April because there wasn’t any snow to measure. For the 2014-15 season, the snowpacks were some of the lowest in history.

 As California’s four-year drought gets worse, the state is looking to the railroads. Experts point out that the East Coast could supply some water to help with the drought. Despite some of the heaviest rain and snowfall in the East, the problem may come from states willing to share their water.

Even in the Pacific Northwest conditions have become drier than normal in most areas. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, extreme to exceptional drought conditions cover most of California. In southeastern Oregon, there is now extreme drought with severe drought over central Oregon and south-central Washington. The Columbia Basin still has relatively normal precipitation, but moderate drought conditions now cover northeastern Washington and North Idaho.

In Spokane, a strong high pressure system continues to dominate our weather. Storms that move toward the West Coast are weakened to the point that we only see clouds, some light showers and cooler temperatures. Precipitation totals now have fallen to below normal levels at many stations. As of early this week, the airport had received only 5.91 inches of rain and melted snow since Jan.1. Right now, the airport is about a half-inch below average. But, since Oct. 1, Spokane is more than 1.50 inches below normal. Despite the dryness, we’re still in better shape than many other stations in the Western U.S.

There is hope for the Golden State for the winter of 2015-16. El Nino has been intensifying over the past month and could be declared a moderate event by this summer. The warmer ocean waters often lead to above-normal precipitation for California. The El Nino that developed late last year fell apart early this year. The rainfall season got off to a great start in California, bringing record rainfall and even some flooding before getting shut off like a faucet during the critical months of January through March.

If El Nino gets stronger and hangs on through the fall, we could see another winter of below-normal snowfall with more heavy snows to the east. But the Australian scientists who follow this phenomenon say that El Nino will fall apart later in the summer.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to have this pattern of sunny, mild to warm days and occasional showers into June. Thunderstorm activity should start to increase later this month and June. This summer still looks very warm to hot, with near normal precipitation, thanks to occasional thunderstorms.