WASHINGTON – The state is experiencing its fifth driest January on record, according to a recent blog post from Washington’s Water Supply Availability Committee. Water temperatures have also been above normal, raising concerns about a potential third consecutive drought.
The Washington State Department of Ecology is closely monitoring the situation. They believe that these conditions over the past three years haven’t been experienced since “the early nineties from 1992, 93 and 94.”
Currently, Washington is under a drought declared in April 2024. As of February 28, the Bureau of Reclamation’s water storage is at just 35% of its normal level for this time of year, based on data from the past three decades.
Caroline Mellor, the statewide drought lead for Washington’s Department of Ecology, emphasized the severity of the situation.
“There’s studies that say that we should expect a snowpack drought 40% of the years by 2050,” Mellor said. “We’ve experienced some drought in some portion of the state, which usually includes Yakima, six out of the last ten years. I encourage folks to continue to think of these conditions as less abnormal.”
The process of declaring a drought involves multiple steps, according to Mellor.
“We go through a multiple step process for declaring, extending a drought declaration and under a drought declaration, that essentially means two things that we can expedite processing of water transfer applications. And second, we can open up drought response funding for public entities, including irrigation districts, conservation districts, utilities, cities, counties, as well as tribes,” Mellor said.
The potential impact of a drought could affect both people and wildlife.
“At this point in time, we’re definitely concerned about impacts for irrigators and for the agricultural sector as well as to fish,” Mellor said. “There are, you know, salmon in particular as well as other species. They like cold water. So we have a lower water it early at different times, especially early on in summer. Then that means those rivers and streams that will be getting hotter a lot sooner than they otherwise would have.”
The Bureau of Reclamation is expected to release its first drought forecasts for March next Thursday.
