Rainstorm expected over Easter weekend

Potentially the largest rainstorm in more than two months was heading toward the Inland Northwest on Friday, offering the chance of some relief to drought-like conditions.

Rainfall was expected in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas later this afternoon and should continue through much of the Easter holiday. More rain and mountain snow were expected through next week.

“It looks like we are going to be in a wetter pattern for at least the next 10 to 14 days,” said Charles Ross, a forecaster and hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Spokane.

“We’ve got a long way to go before we get back to normal, but any precipitation is good news,” he said.

Ross said rainfall could exceed a half-inch. The last time that much rain fell was during a mild, four-day storm from Jan. 15 through Jan. 18, which washed away much of the region’s midwinter snow.

So far this season, the region has received only about half of its normal precipitation. Mountain snowpacks have improved slightly in the past week thanks to snow showers that lingered over higher elevations.

Even so, snowpacks across North Idaho were measured at 43 percent of normal Friday. Snowpacks in the Cascades were measured in the 20 percent to 30 percent range. The low snowpacks are likely to result in below-normal stream flows later this summer and create a potential for forest fire danger, Ross said.

Wheat farmers worried

The relative lack of precipitation has left dryland wheat farmers fearing crop losses and crop failures, said Gretchen Borck, director of issues for the Association of Washington Wheat Growers. She said the soil in many locations is dry at a depth of 4 feet, the level at which winter wheat plants take moisture during critical growth months later in the season.

She said the winter wheat, which is sown in the fall, is already under stress from the drought.

“It’s just dry everywhere,” Borck said. “It has to rain pretty good to make a difference, and it has to rain pretty steady.” She added that farmers may not be able to plant spring wheat crops because of the dryness.

This year was the fifth driest fall-winter season on record in Spokane. The city recorded 5.22 inches of precipitation from Oct. 1 through March 22, compared with a normal amount of 9.98 inches. The driest year on record was the 1976-77 season, when 3.49 inches of precipitation fell.

Low precipitation amounts were also recorded in 2000, Ross said, but snowpacks that year were closer to normal.

Spokane would need 9 inches of rain by July 1 to get back to normal, which is considered very unlikely, Ross said.

Snow levels were expected to rise to 5,500 feet today and tonight, and then drop back to 4,000 feet Sunday.

Ross said cooler conditions should prevail next week, allowing snow to accumulate in the mountains and boosting the meager snowpacks.

The Spokane water department Friday said the low moisture levels have not caused any drops in city wells. The city takes its water from a large aquifer that flows westward from North Idaho. Well levels stood at their averages for this time of year, said Jeff Lilly, water services supervisor for the city.

He said that the aquifer is expected to satisfy demand for water later this year and that water rationing is not expected in Spokane.