Spring runoff a nonstarter
MOUNT SPOKANE – The lack of mountain snow has already broken nearly every record since the first official government measurements were taken at the beginning of the 20th century. Experts are now having difficulty putting this strange winter in any sort of historical perspective.
“You can’t really compare it to anything,” said Scott Pattee, water supply specialist for the Washington office of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Pattee visited a snow measurement site near the top of Mount Spokane on Tuesday morning to take a monthly measurement. For the past 30 years, the site has averaged 6 feet of snow in early March. This year, there’s an inch of ice – and that’s only in the coldest, shadiest spots. Much of the moisture will evaporate before it has a chance to trickle down the mountain, Pattee said. The ski slopes are almost entirely bare.
“That’s what mid-June looks like,” Pattee said, pointing to the grassy mountainside.
Last week, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire declared a statewide drought emergency. Even if coming months bring monsoon amounts of rain – defying the current long-term predictions from the National Weather Service – the absence of mountain snow is worth worrying about, according to Pattee and other experts. From farms to fish to forests, Northwest summers run on snowmelt.
State and federal agencies are now preparing for the long summer ahead.
“We’re battening down the hatches for the worst right now,” said Madonna Luers, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
In a normal year, a surge of snowmelt knocks out beaver dams that block the paths of migratory trout and salmon, Luers said, citing one example. This year, the dams remain and the fish are stuck. The Fish and Wildlife Department is developing emergency drought plans that could include closing fisheries and wildlife areas later in the season, Luers said. Some boat ramps could be left high and dry before the trout fishing season opens at the end of April, she added.
“We’re going to have a lot of problems,” Luers said.
North Idaho’s large lakes will be safe havens for fish, but smaller lakes and streams could be hit hard by the lack of snowpack, said Ned Horner, regional fisheries manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
“Fish will be stressed,” Horner said.
Rainbow trout are spawning now in the Spokane River, where seasonal flows are predicted to be 42 percent of normal. Avista Utilities is releasing about 3,000 cubic feet of water from the Post Falls Dam to ensure trout spawning beds remain submerged until the eggs hatch, said Avista spokesman Hugh Imhof. The dam gates will soon begin to close and the lake will be brought to its peak summer level at least two weeks earlier than normal to save as much water as possible for later in the season, he said.
Avista expects Spokane River flows to drop to 300 cubic feet per second later in the summer – essentially, the lowest amount of flow allowed under the utility’s federal license. At that level, the river will largely disappear below the boulders in some parts of Spokane Valley, Imhof said.
In normal years, rivers across the region peak with runoff in late April or May. But that’s already happened on some rivers.
The North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River near Enaville, Idaho, for instance, appears to have hit its typical springtime runoff surge at the end of Janaury, according to data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. On Tuesday, the river flowed at about 900 cubic feet per second, which would be a normal flow for mid-July.
Although some North Idaho mountains remain covered with snow, most rivers in the region will barely register a rise later in spring, Imhof predicted.
“I don’t think we’ll even see a peak this year,” he said.
At the summit of Mount Spokane, shrubs and trees are beginning to pop with green leafy buds. The plants are awakening nearly two months early in some spots, Pattee said. As soon as the leaves open, the plants will drink up what moisture remains in the soil from above-normal autumn rains.
Snow also acts as a critical fire prevention blanket when lightning strikes the region’s high peaks. This is why, in normal years, the fire season doesn’t begin until later in summer, when snow melts from the mountains.
“Once the snow melts off the fuels, they’re almost instantly fire fodder,” Pattee said.
The Washington Department of Ecology issued a statement warning of more Eastern Washington dust storms during the coming season. Tiny particles of dirt, driven by sustained winds of 18 mph or greater, pose a threat to sensitive lung tissue, according to the statement.
Tractors plowed farm fields not far from the base of Mount Spokane on Tuesday morning. Large, brown clouds of dust roiled above the plow blades.