Dwindling snowpack threatens water supplies, forests
An unusually dry spring has melted snowpack in Washington's mountains and throughout the West at a troubling rate, causing heightened concern for drought conditions and forest fire danger, according to government officials and climate experts.
This week's snowpack measurements in the Cascades show little or no snow in areas that usually have several inches, hydrologists say. While it may give hikers a jump on the season, it does not bode well for water supplies, stream flows, fish, agriculture or forests, many say.
"It is extremely dry out there. The level of concern is very high," said Todd Myers, spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources, charged with fighting fires on state and private lands.
Myers said since Jan. 1, there have been 77 fires statewide, in contrast to 22 over the same time period last year. The fires have been mostly small, 2-acre events that have not received publicity, yet which could have damaged property and habitat had they not been snuffed out promptly, Myers said. Adding to concerns is the unavailability of many volunteer firefighters until college ends in late June, Myers said.
Climatologists say that in the last 28 days, rainfall in most of Western Washington has been about 50 percent of normal levels. Seattle precipitation has been at about 60 percent of normal levels.
"We were doing OK until the beginning of March," Washington state climatologist Philip Mote said. "Normally, March is a month of snow accumulation. But there's no question it's been unusually dry and unusually clear; put those together and you have nice weather -- but it's bad for snowpack. But Washington really is in better shape than some places in the West."
Record decreases in snowpack throughout the Western states were reported Tuesday for the month of March, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a climate research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of the 1,013 sites measured between March 1 and April 1, 25 percent showed record snowpack decreases -- a number Mote called "pretty astonishing for one year."
Mountain temperatures throughout the West ranged between 5 and 15 degrees above normal, eroding snowpacks and "increasing the risk of continued drought this summer," according to a conservation service report.
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Dwindling snowpack threatens water supplies, forests
