Washington Drought

For the first time in several weeks, the drought severity did not change for Oregon, Idaho or Washington.

The spring wheat crop continues to progress at a fairly normal clip. Locally, the Washington crop is completely headed while Idaho’s crop is at 99%.

We are officially in the dog days of summer, which means dryer conditions not only across the west, but nationwide.

Dry conditions continue to spread across the three states. For the first time this year, Washington, Idaho and now Oregon are reporting Extreme Drought.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey said the western U.S. has dried out very quickly.

Soils across the Northwest continue to dry out. And according to USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey, that drying out has happened quickly over the past couple of weeks.

Water supply numbers this month may look slightly better than June, but it will still be a long irrigation season for many in central Washington.

Soil moisture levels continue to fall across the region as we prepare to welcome in the month of July.

Much of the Pacific Northwest has seen warmer and drier than normal conditions over the past several months.

As summer starts in the Northwest, area soils continue to dry out.  The latest numbers from USDA show only 13% of Washington has soil moisture numbers on par for where they should be this time of year.  86% of the state is considered Abnormally Dry, or a D0 designation, while nearly 50% of the state is under a D1, or Moderate Drought.     O...