Western snowpack slump

Colorado’s mountain snowpack entered April at record lows after a hot March melted winter storage weeks early. (climate.colostate.edu) On April 1, Colorado’s statewide snow-water equivalent — the amount of liquid water locked in snow — averaged 3.3 inches across 115 Snow Telemetry stations, or 22% of the 30-year median, according to the Colorado Climate Center. The center said that was far below any year in its modern record. (climate.colostate.edu) The Upper Colorado River Basin peaked at a record-low share of its typical snowpack and stood at 27% of median on April 1, according to Western Water Assessment. In Colorado, 36% of Snow Telemetry sites had already melted out by April 1. (wwa.colorado.edu) Snowpack works like a mountain reservoir: it stores water in winter and releases it slowly in spring. When warm storms fall as rain instead of snow, or when heat melts snow early, rivers run earlier and soils and vegetation dry sooner. (eastidahonews.com) Idaho finished winter in the same pattern. Idaho Department of Water Resources hydrologist David Hoekema said the state was looking at its lowest April 1 snowpack on record, and East Idaho News reported some low-elevation ranges were near historic lows after one of the state’s warmest winters. (eastidahonews.com) On April 8, Idaho’s statewide snow-water equivalent was the lowest ever recorded for that date, the Idaho Statesman reported, and Hoekema said he had to go back to 1934 to find a comparable case. The same report said Idaho was one of 10 states with its warmest March on record. (eastidahonews.com) Farmers are already adjusting. Meridian farmer Neil Durrant said he was leaving “a couple hundred acres” unplanted this year because of water uncertainty, while Richard Durrant said drought is forcing growers to rethink timing and crop rotation. (eastidahonews.com) The problem stretches beyond Colorado and Idaho. Washington’s April 1 statewide snow-water equivalent was 52% of normal, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the state declared a statewide drought emergency on April 8. (publicnow.com) (king5.com) In the Columbia Basin, snowpack was also at 52% of average on April 10, and University of California, Merced climate scholar John Abatzoglou told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News that conditions were “either as bad as it’s been so far or just about there” across larger Western watersheds. The same report said the Clearwater Basin was at 70% of average and some fire managers saw conditions running a month to six weeks ahead of schedule. (yahoo.com) Hydropower may hold up better than irrigation in parts of the Northwest because late-fall and winter precipitation was near or above normal in some basins even when snowfall was not. But with less snow left to melt through late spring, water managers and fire officials are heading into summer with less margin for heat, wind and dry fuels. (yahoo.com)