February 10, 2017
CapitalPress.com
3
Snowpack
January storms boost Western snowpack
Western U.S. snow water equivalent
Basin-wide percent of Feb. 2017 snowpack compared
to the aggregate average (1971-2010).
Big winter storms in Jan-
uary have generally pushed
snowpacks around the West to
above average levels.
But while water managers
are optimistic, they warn it’s
still early. Warm temperatures
late in the season, or dry con-
ditions, could still change the
summer outlook.
101
127
110
99 88
116 113
127
106
117
123 125
111
117
111 111
104
101
110
97
128
115
100 109 99
114
108 119 136
110 119
130
120
123
134
158 136 145146
100
177
137
143
148
177
127
117
78
108 96
134
157
157 178
160 161
134 149
75
163
135
145 141 127148 164 184
149
168 87
148
164 156
155
127 119
145 144
149
212
164 116 120
150
121
131
140 166
231 197
120 132
212
126
132
148
126
135117 125
127
130
135
97
116
133
116
California
A manual survey conduct-
ed Feb. 2 found more than
four times as much snow as a
month ago, and farm groups
want the abundance to equate
to considerably more water
this summer.
But state and federal offi -
cials insist it’s still early in the
season, and the drought isn’t
over yet.
The state Department of
Water Resources’ manual
survey at a mountain station
about 90 miles east of Sac-
ramento found a snow-water
equivalence of 28.1 inches, up
dramatically from the 6 inch-
es found there on Jan. 3.
The site’s average Febru-
ary snow-water equivalence
in manual readings since
1964 is 11.3 inches. Electron-
ic readings showed the state-
wide snowpack on Feb. 2 to
be 173 percent of average for
the date.
“We’ve got a very good
snowpack, a very robust
snowpack on the ground right
now,” state snow surveys
chief Frank Gehrke told re-
porters.
Even before the survey
was done, the California Farm
Bureau Federation, Western
Growers and the California
Farm Water Coalition put
out statements expressing
hope that the well-above-
normal snowpack equates to
improved water supplies for
farmers and ranchers.
“You would think that a
snowpack in the range of 175
percent of average would as-
sure plentiful water supplies,
but that link has long ago been
severed,” Western Growers
president Tom Nassif said in
a statement. “Wildlife agen-
cies often hold the key to
determining how much water
is available, because endan-
gered-species laws reserve
water for protected fi sh.”
Nassif and others pointed
to the passage of federal water
legislation in December that
included increased fl exibility
in the state’s water system.
CFBF President Paul Wenger
noted that the legislation —
the Water Infrastructure Im-
provements for the Nation Act
— allows agencies to capture
more water during winter
storms and requires them to
maximize supplies.
Some farms in the San
Joaquin Valley received only
5 percent of their normal Cen-
tral Valley Project allotments
last year after the whole val-
ley received no federal water
for agriculture in 2014 and
2015.
The State Water Project
has already increased its pro-
jected allocation to 60 percent
of requested supplies, up from
a 20 percent initial allocation.
The U.S. Bureau of Recla-
mation typically makes its
fi rst allocation of CVP water
in mid-February, though last
season’s was on April 1.
Bureau spokesman Louis
Moore said this year’s initial
projection is “in the works,”
though he doesn’t know when
it will be announced. He said
the snow surveys are a factor
in determining allocations,
and the WIIN Act may be.
130
93
Courtesy of Calif. Dept. of Water Resources
From left, scientists Michael Peterson, Julianne McCall and Mikel
Shybut assist state snow surveys chief Frank Gehrke with the sec-
ond manual survey of the 2017 season Feb. 2 at Phillips Station in
the Sierra Nevada east of Sacramento.
“This is actually still early
for us to know what that (al-
location) would actually be,”
Moore told the Capital Press.
“I would say that conditions
are improved, and folks are
looking at what this could
mean.”
But water offi cials say they
don’t consider the drought to
be over. State Climatologist
Mike Anderson said eight of
the last 10 water years have
been dry, and this winter
could be “one wet year in a
string of dry ones.”
Offi cials note that some
Central Valley communities
still depend on water tanks
and bottled water, ground-
water tables are still low and
Lake Cachuma in Santa Bar-
bara County is at just 12 per-
cent of capacity.
One problem is that Cal-
ifornia is essentially getting
too much precipitation too
quickly, said Michelle Mead,
a National Weather Service
warning coordinator in Sac-
ramento. As some parts of the
Sierra Nevada got nearly four
times their normal precipita-
tion in January, “there’s really
no place to put all this water,”
Mead said.
Idaho
By the end of a wet Jan-
uary, some Southern Idaho
basins were already near or
above their usual peak snow-
pack levels for the entire win-
ter, according to a water sup-
ply outlook recently issued by
USDA’s Natural Resources
Conservation Service.
For a second consecutive
month, storms inundated the
state south of Idaho’s Salmon
River. Monthly snow accu-
mulation ranged from 200 to
250 percent of normal in the
Bear River, Malad, Portneuf,
Bruneau, Jarbidge and Camas
Creek basins, according to the
report.
The Boise, Big Wood, Lit-
tle Wood, Big Lost, Hoback,
Greys, Willow, Blackfoot,
Goose, Salmon Falls and
Owyhee basins received from
130 to 185 percent of average
precipitation for the month.
“The jet stream brought a
lot of moisture into the south-
ern half of Idaho, and that’s
where we received signifi -
cantly more moisture than
normal,” said Ron Abramov-
ich, NRCS snow specialist for
Idaho.
The Weiser and Payette ba-
sins received between 110 and
116 percent of normal January
snowfall, while Northern Ida-
ho was below normal, with
the Kootenai, Priest, Coeur
d’Alene and Spokane basins
receiving 65 to 70 percent of
usual monthly snowfall.
Abramovich said moun-
tain snowpack usually peaks
in late March to early April.
But by the beginning of Feb-
ruary — with 40 percent of
winter still remaining — the
Bear River basin was already
exceeding its peak snowpack,
and the Portneuf Willow and
Blackfoot basins in southeast
Idaho were at 95 percent of
their peak. The Upper Snake
had 81 percent of its usual
peak, with mountain snow-
packs ranging from normal to
160 percent of normal.
Streamfl ow forecasts to
end the month were also rosy
throughout Southern and
Eastern Idaho, led by predic-
tions of double the normal
streamfl ows in the Bear and
Owyhee basins. Abundant
streamfl ow, ranging from
140 to 175 percent of normal,
was also projected for the
Big Wood, Little Wood, Wil-
low Creek, Portneuf, Salmon
Fall and Bruneau basins, as
well as in the Snake River at
the Heise gage and in Upper
Snake River tributaries.
Reservoirs throughout the
state are also catching up to
their normal fi ll levels after
most entered the winter below
normal. The Boise reservoir
system ended January at 102
percent of normal, the Pay-
ette system was at 99 percent
of normal, the Magic, Little
Wood and Mackay reservoirs
were from 127 percent to 145
percent of normal and the
eight major reservoirs in the
Upper Snake system were at
96 percent of normal.
Abramovich said tem-
peratures have stayed cold in
the valleys throughout most
of the winter, leading snow
to accumulate in residential
areas and making the winter
seem even more severe to Ida-
ho residents. Early February
has brought warmer tempera-
tures, leading to fl ooding in
some areas. For example, the
Idaho Transportation Depart-
ment closed Interstate 86 on
Feb. 6 from the I-84 junction
to th Rockland interchange
due to deep, standing water.
Abramovich said there’s
a good chance some ear-
ly February storms may hit
Northern Idaho. However,
National Weather Service me-
teorologist Bob Survick said
warm temperatures accompa-
nying a 36-hour storm starting
on the evening of Feb. 9 could
result in rain up to 8,000 feet
in the mountains, potentially
eroding some of the abundant
snowpack.
120
120
Percentage key
(As of Feb. 7)
168
161
160
Unavailable
Less than 50%
50-69%
70-89%
90-109%
110-129%
130-149%
More than 149%
144 113 104
116
92
160
156
132 125
139
Miles
0
Source: USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service
is healthy nearly two-thirds of
the way into the snow accu-
mulation season.
However, unless it increas-
es from its current level, Or-
egon’s snowpack would still
be below normal at the tradi-
tional peak in early April, said
Julie Koeberle, a hydrologist
with USDA’s Natural Re-
sources Conservation Service
“The threat of rainfall in
the mountains is there,” Koe-
berle said. “We’d rather not
see it rain in the mountains.
We’d rather it continue to
build as snow.”
It’s been cold enough
during recent storms for most
precipitation to be deposited
as snow, but there’s a poten-
tial for the snow level to rise
to higher elevations, she said.
Rain wouldn’t likely have
much deleterious effect on the
snowpack in higher-elevation
mountains, but it could melt
snow at lower elevations,
Koeberle said.
The Owyhee basin in
southeast Oregon has the
strongest snowpack in the
state, at 160 percent of aver-
age, followed by the Willa-
mette basin in Western Ore-
gon, which is 150 percent of
average.
The Grande Ronde, Pow-
der, Burnt and Imnaha basin
in Northeast Oregon has the
weakest snowpack at a re-
spectable 109 percent of av-
erage.
While current snowpack
levels bode well for summer
stream fl ows, it’s worth noting
that Oregon was also in robust
shape last winter, Koeberle
said.
Record-high temperatures
in April 2016, however, di-
minished snowpacks to the
point where many streams
were running below-normal
in the summer, she said.
Due to low stream fl ows
and strong irrigation demand,
most of Oregon’s reservoirs
were at below-average levels
when the rainy season began
150
300
Capital Press graphic
last autumn, according to
USDA NRCS.
Some reservoirs are now
approaching average levels,
but many have yet to catch
up despite the improved wa-
ter situation, the agency said
in its February water outlook
report.
The Hood, Malheur and
Powder basins were faring the
worst in early February, with
reservoir levels below 35 per-
cent of average. At 160 per-
cent of average, the Grande
Ronde basin had the strongest
reservoir levels.
Washington
It’s been a great snow year
for much of the West Coast,
but not for most of Washing-
ton state, the Idaho panhandle
and Western Montana.
A high pressure system off
the Washington coast in Jan-
uary caused La Nina storms
coming from the south and
mixing with arctic air to ric-
ochet back southward and
dump on Oregon, Southern
Idaho and California, says
Scott Pattee, Natural Resourc-
es Conservation Service water
supply specialist for Washing-
ton.
Normally, La Nina storms
skirt high pressure to the
south and deliver lots of snow
to Washington, the Idaho pan-
handle and western Montana,
he said.
High elevations have been
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Oregon
With a statewide snow-
pack that’s 134 percent of av-
erage, Oregon’s water outlook
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131
dry and cold while elevations
of 3,500 feet and lower have
been at or above normal pre-
cipitation in Eastern Washing-
ton, Pattee said.
“In spite of what people
see out their windows, the
snowpack is behind average
up in the mountains. There
have been storms coming
through but their focus has
been in Oregon. ... So we’ve
been getting the fringes,” said
Chris Lynch, U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation hydrologist in
Yakima.
The fringes swipe the Low-
er Columbia Basin, around
Mount St. Helens, which is at
123 percent of normal snow
water equivalent, Pattee said.
“It’s been one of the driest
Januarys since the late 1970s.
Seven SNOTEL sites were at
or below record for the month
of January,” he said.
SNOTEL (snow telemetry)
sites are an automated sys-
tem of snowpack and related
weather sensors operated by
NRCS.
Weekend storms on Feb.
4-5 fi nally brought a lot of
snow to much of the state.
One of the best examples:
Morse Lake SNOTEL site
up the Lower Yakima toward
Cayuse Pass received 42 inch-
es of snow in just three days.
Statewide
snowpack
jumped from 91 to 102 per-
cent of normal, Pattee said.
“If we can get one more
dump like this and then cool
off and get maintenance snows
through March, it would make
a huge difference,” he said.
Whether that will happen
is a big question. The outlook
for the next 30 days is warm
and wet and beyond that it’s
cool and wet, he said.
Snow water equivalent
snowpack in the Spokane Ba-
sin was 82 percent of normal
on Feb. 6. The upper Colum-
bia (Okanogan and Methow
rivers) was 99 percent. The
central Columbia (Chelan,
Entiat and Wenatchee) was
94, the upper Yakima was
80 and the lower Yakima 94.
The lower Snake near Walla
Walla was 89, south Puget
Sound (from Cascade crest
to lowlands) was 98, central
Puget Sound 103, north Puget
Sound 86 and the Olympics
106.
As of Feb. 6, the fi ve
mountain reservoirs serving
the Yakima Basin were at 47
percent capacity and 93 per-
cent of normal, Lynch said.
Warmer winters and
springs the past several years
have fi lled reservoirs sooner.
The slower pace is more de-
sirable, he said.
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