Showers And Snow Have Helped Idaho, But More Is Needed

December has been a wet month across much of the Northwest, and while much of that fell as rain rather than snow, any precipitation is welcome news, especially in northern Idaho.  Erin Whorton with NRCS says the panhandle has been under pressure for sometime, leading to moderate, severe, and even exceptional drought conditions this summer.

“We saw really a lot of impacts to different sectors, hydropower generation, fisheries. decreased soil moisture affecting dry land agriculture in that area," she said.  "So that area has really felt drought impacts. However, it's been in this drought for three years. So if we look at the long-term drought indexes, that area has been in a long-term drought and it takes a while to recover from that.”

She noted while these precipitation events are very welcome, the region is a far cry from recovered.

"You know drought recovery is maybe a multi-year process where we need a couple years of good snowpacks to replenish things like shallow groundwater and see like stream flow conditions return to normal," Whorton noted.  "We'll have to see how it goes this winter.” 

The latest drought numbers from USDA show Extreme drought conditions remain in Latah and Nez Perce counties. 

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