Washington Snowpack Off To A Good Start

The new snow year is just a few days old, but the snowpack is already showing signs of life in Washington.  NRCS’ Matt Warbritton said the pack is already looking good for the Washington Cascades, and he expects that to continue as the system that rolled through the region late Monday and early Tuesday continues to dump snow.

Warbritton was quick to point out that snow early in the season is not always the best thing for the environment for a couple of reasons.

“One is soil moisture," he highlighted.  "Early season rain sort of replenishes drier soils, after we come off of summer.  So, when snow falls, it doesn't happen as efficiently or effectively.  And the other thing is early season rain [which] also replenishes some of the low stream flows, especially the streams that are coming off of summer and below normal. So, it is a less effective sort of replenishment of that streamflow.” 

Warbritton added Washington will need every snowflake and winter storm to overcome the past couple of years.

“Coming off of a winter and the summer of more significant drought, it's really going to take a lot of snowpack and precipitation to alleviate the areas that were exceptionally dry throughout much of this year.”

Listen to our entire conversation with Warbritton here:

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