drought

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is out with its recap of the winter of 2024-2025, which includes December, January and February.    “We are seeing that it was our 27th warmest winter out of 130 years, going all the way back to 1895-1896.”    USDA...

The Washington Department of Ecology say water users in the Nooksack watershed and adjacent areas should begin receiving their adjudication claim forms via certified mail this week.  The mailing list includes about 30,000 landowners.  Ecology...

There are several on-farm issues the Snake River Sugarbeet Growers Association is working on this legislative session in Boise.  And for Executive Director Samantha Parrott, no issue is bigger than water.   She said there were several challenges last year in the eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer, which put hundreds of thousands of acres of water in jeopardy.  While an agr...

Snowpacks across Idaho are looking very good as we head into the final weeks of the snow season.  When it comes to individual basins across the Gem state, most are at or above normal for this time of year, with the one expectation being the Coeur D’Alene-St. Joe in norther...

The Bureau of Reclamation is out with its first water supply forecast of the year, and it looks like the Yakima basin may have a challenging irrigation season ahead.  Reclamation’s March 2025 total water supply available forecast indicates the water supply will not fully meet irrigation demands this season.  The early est...

Typically, here in the Northwest, the snowpack’s high-water mark is April 1st, meaning the region has only a few more weeks, or perhaps months on the snow season.  When it comes to the Oregon, Matt Warbritton with NRCS says the statewide snowpack is pretty robust right now.   “...

As we move into the final months of the western snowpack season, how might what we see in the higher elevations translate to support of regional water supplies for agricultural irrigation and municipal H2O?   “Following two favorable winters, previously, California's intrastate reservoirs remain in reasonably good shape," noted USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  "This ye...

Matt Warbritton with NRCS said the Washington snowpack is not encouraging for this time of year.  He noted that many basins, most of which are in the Cascades are in deficit just a month before the typical apex of snow season.  He added one of the regions that’s of greatest concern is central Washington.  He noted the Upper and ...

As of February 13th, the Washington Department of Ecology said it was too early to tell if enough snowpack had accumulated to lift the 2024 drought declaration.  Experts are concerned that at this point, it will take more snow than Washington will likely see before the spring to offset the dry conditions the state experienced last year.   ...

After months of concern, it looks like irrigators in Idaho can breathe a small sigh of relief, after the snowpack made considerable improvements between January and February.   “We've had a lot of big storms come through the area and so we've seen the snowpack really improve, especially from the Salmon Basin through the south," said Erin Whorton with NRCS.  "So, wes...