Lack of snow may take toll
Many of the 500 or so workers at Stevens Pass ski area have been idled from an acute lack of snow. Some are still collecting pay checks; many have gone on vacation to ski or snowboard. Matt Gormley cruises along the top of the pipe that is desperately in need of more snow.
Balmy weather that has stripped the Cascades of its customary winter cloak of snow could take a toll on apples, salmon and more than a million water consumers by summer.
State climatologist Philip Mote yesterday warned that most basins in the mountain range have a snowpack just 20 percent to 30 percent of average. In more than half of areas measured, the January snowpack is lower than it has been in 28 years, he said.
Mote said that at one high-altitude monitoring station near Glacier Peak, the temperature last week was 20 degrees above average and that snow is melting at 6,200 feet -- something he doesn't remember ever seeing midseason.
"We are in a pretty deep hole, and the chances of recovering are pretty slim," Mote said. "It can be done. But it's like being 20-0 down halfway through a football game."
Should the trend continue, it could lead to a summer of reduced river flows, irrigation rationing in parts of Eastern Washington and low water levels in reservoirs that slake the thirst of Seattle-area consumers.
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Lack of snow may take toll
