Heavy snows will help with drought

Sat., March 31, 2007

Matthew Brown Associated Press

BILLINGS – Several feet of snow in the mountains over the past few days will ease drought conditions in northeast Wyoming and adjacent parts of Montana, but other parts of the region are still hurting for water.

Wyoming state climatologist Steve Gray said the Tongue and Powder River basins benefited most from the fierce storm.

To the west, the Bighorn and Wind River basins received only a modest boost to below-normal snowpack levels, Gray said.

It’s not that the storm spared that area: Before it was even over, 70 inches of snow were recorded at one site in the Wind River Mountains near Riverton, Wyo.

However, lower elevations received less, and Gray said the total will not make up for a downstream water deficit that built up over the past eight years.

The Bighorn Basin was at 74 percent of normal Friday, a slight improvement from 66 percent on Monday. The Wind River was at 71 percent, up from 59 percent.

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