EVERETT — The Northwest and the Northeast U.S. are making headlines about snow, but for very different reasons.
From New England to the Mid-Atlantic states, the East Coast has been battered by record-setting depths of snow and freezing temperatures. Meanwhile, the Northwest has barely had winter at all. Washington has only received about 28 percent of the snow it usually gets, according to the latest federal estimate.
The warm winter has forced ski resorts to close early or at least significantly restrict operations, but Snohomish County should have enough water to get through the summer.
River basins around Central Puget Sound will be fed by 14 percent of their average snowpack, according to a March 6 report by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But overall precipitation in the state is much closer to the average. This winter hasn’t been dry, it’s just been warmer than usual, experts say.
In the Sultan River Basin, which supplies drinking water for about 80 percent of Snohomish County residents, the water supply is 93 percent of average, said Neil Neroutsos, a spokesman for Snohomish County Public Utility District.
“In terms of the water supply, we’re not really affected,” he said. “Of course, for power generation, we would appreciate a little bit more snow in the mountains that would give us more of a cushion.”
The PUD operates the Jackson Hydroelectric Project in the Sultan basin. The facility generates about 5 percent of the PUD’s energy.
The PUD buys most of its energy from the Bonneville Power Administration, which operates hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River, which draws on drainage that stretches north into Canada.
The Columbia basin’s snowpack is much better because much of it is in higher elevations to the north, which have received more snow, according to the snowpack report.
“The main stem Columbia is going to be fine,” said Scott Pattee, who put together the snowpack report.
He is a water supply specialist in the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Mount Vernon office.
There will probably be enough water for consumption and irrigation, especially if utilities and customers use it efficiently and conservatively, Pattee said.
“Maybe you water your lawn one day a week — or not at all. It grows back,” he said.
On rivers, there might not be enough water in the fall, however, to flush young salmon to the sea.
“It’s all going to come down to how hot and dry our summer is,” Pattee said.
The Snohomish River could be very low this summer, he said.
There might not be enough water for rafting on the Skykomish and Wenatchee rivers, as well.
The Dungeness River on the Olympic Peninsula is probably in the worst shape in the state. In an average year, there is just enough water to be shared by people, irrigation, fish and power generation, and there’s been barely any snow this year, Pattee said.
This winter is a glimpse of the future, said Amy Snover, an environmental professor and director of the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington.
“The future looks like this” in the Northwest, Snover said. “Climate change looks like this — less snow and warmer winters.”
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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