January 2, 2015
CapitalPress.com
7
S. Idaho snowpack Rain sets Calif. strawberries behind 2013 pace
above average
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Capital Press
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s
reservoir storage carryover is
strong enough that just 70 per-
cent of average stream-flow lev-
els should be sufficient to sup-
port 2015 irrigation demand for
the Upper Snake River system,
according to a recent USDA re-
port.
In the absence of additional
spring moisture to supplement
snow melt, a mountain snow-
pack of roughly 90 percent of
average would still yield the
necessary stream flow volumes,
explained Ron Abramovich, a
Natural Resources Conservation
Service water supply specialist.
Last winter, for example,
Upper Snake snowpack was
142 percent of median on April
1, but stream-flow levels lagged
at 121 percent of median due to
a dry spring.
The Southern and Central
Idaho snowpack is off to a good
start this winter. Through Dec.
24, Upper Snake snowpack was
133 percent of average. Else-
where in the state, snowpack
was also strong in the Boise
River Basin at 124 percent of
average, the Bear River Basin
at 120 percent of average, the
Henry’s Fork at 109 percent of
average, the Owhyee Basin at
127 percent of average, the Big
Wood Basin at 125 percent of
average, the Big Lost Basin at
112 percent of average and the
Salmon River Basin at 117 per-
cent of average.
The state’s lowest snowpack
totals are in the northern pan-
handle, at 60 percent of average,
and 92 percent of average in the
Clearwater Basin near Lewis-
ton.
Abramovich said the lowest
snowpacks in the West early in
the winter are in the Cascade
Range of Oregon and Washing-
ton, ranging from 10 to 50 per-
cent of normal. The weather pat-
tern that has brought rain rather
than snow to the Cascades has
also affected Northern Idaho,
Abramovich said.
In Oregon’s Mount Hood
area snowpack is just 10 percent
of average.
Abramovich said remnants
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Snow-capped mountains poke
above the far bank of American
Falls Reservoir in southeast
Idaho.
of a warm spot in the Pacific
Ocean and an El Nino pattern
have diverted the jet stream
around much of the Pacific
Northwest, but storms have hit
Southern Idaho.
“Right now, the best snow
in the West is from Owyhee
Basin to Green River, Wyo.,
and all across Southern Idaho,”
Abramovich said.
Even on the Oregon side, the
Owyhee Basin’s snowpack is
well above average. Last season,
the basin’s irrigators were with-
in a swath extending into the
Big Wood and Big Lost basins
that was missed by storms. They
ran out of water on July 18, and
their runoff was only 14 percent
of normal, Abramovich said.
The moisture outlook for
Southern and Central Idaho
could have been even rosier,
had temperatures been a few
degrees colder when storms
passed through on Dec. 20-21.
Those storms dumped 3 feet of
snow at some high-elevation
survey sites in Central Idaho,
but moisture fell as rain at lower
elevations.
Abramovich said a large
storm system was predicted for
after Christmas.
“There are some indica-
tors that January is going to be
colder,” Abramovich said. “We
need the moisture that does fall
as snow rather than rain to let
snowpack gradually melt in the
spring to fill reservoirs to use
(water) next summer.”
WATSONVILLE, Calif.
— Rain in the last few weeks
has dampened strawberry
yields along California’s Cen-
tral Coast, making it appear
likely that growers would just
miss another record produc-
tion year.
But farmers aren’t com-
plaining, California Strawber-
ry Commission spokeswoman
Carolyn O’Donnell said.
“Quite frankly, farmers
are happy to have the rain,”
O’Donnell said. “They see the
benefit from the rain offsetting
any short-term loss in terms of
berries lost to the rain.”
As of mid-December, the
Golden State’s strawberry
growers had turned out more
than 190.9 million flats, down
significantly from the 193.6
million trays produced in the
same period last year but up
slightly from the 190 million
flats picked by mid-Decem-
ber of 2012, according to the
commission.
Through much of this
year, growers were on a
pace to enjoy their eighth re-
cord-setting year in the last
nine seasons. Production re-
mained brisk despite fewer
acres planted in 2014, as a
lack of torrential storms last
winter helped yields.
California growers fin-
ished 2013 having produced
nearly 194.8 million flats on
40,816 acres. This year, an
estimated 38,073 acres were
in production, as strawberry
plantings naturally fluctuate,
according to the commission.
The last time production
fell short of a record was
in 2011, when a cool, wet
spring pushed the peak sum-
mer strawberry season back
a month. Even stands in the
northern Sacramento Valley
remained open for business
well into August that year.
Warm storms such as
Photos by Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Organic strawberries from Santa Maria, Calif., are displayed at a farmers’ market in Davis, Calif.
Strawberry production in California appeared likely to fall just short of another record in 2014.
Doug Kauffman, a marketer for Rancho La Familia in Santa Maria,
Calif., sells strawberries at a farmers’ market in Davis, Calif.
Strawberry production in California appeared likely to fall just short
of another record in 2014.
the ones that have paraded
through California in Decem-
ber can complicate strawberry
harvest, as the rain can cause
ripe berries to become moldy
and waterlogged.
“Last year we had a lack of
rain, which definitely makes
for greater volume and less
damage,” O’Donnell said. “I
think the rain tells the story
more than anything else.”
The rain has actually helped
yields at Rancho La Familia in
Santa Maria, Calif., said Doug
Kauffman, who was working a
booth for the farm at a farm-
ers’ market in Davis, Calif., on
Dec. 20.
“I’d say it was scarcer be-
fore because of the water stor-
age,” Kauffman said of berry
production. “Now with the
water from the rains, we’re do-
ing fine.”
Strawberries are a year-
round fruit in California as
harvests essentially follow
the sun, wintering in Southern
California and moving north as
the year progresses. The peak
season is in the spring and ear-
ly summer, when all three of
California’s most prominent
growing regions — around
Watsonville, Santa Maria and
Oxnard — are shipping ber-
ries.
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