SPOKANE, Wash. — Even with the recent snow we received through the month, snowpack levels throughout the Inland Northwest are still below average.
Snowpack levels are a good way to measure snow water equivalent which is a resource that water and resource managers use to plan water-use based winter snow.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, Lookout Pass has only received 42% of its average snow-water equivalent by this time in the winter. The entire Coeur d’Alene basin as a whole, which includes Lookout, Humboldt Gulch and other areas, are only seeing 64% of its average.
Meanwhile, Schweitzer has gotten 17.8 inches of snow while normally they are at a little over 30 inches around this time of year.
Snow is a key source of water for ecosystems and people in the Northwest and with the below average snowpack, we may see some issues when it comes to irrigation, recreation and more this summer.
Between 60-70% of water supplies come from snowmelt, with high mountain regions being on the high end of that range. Snow is a critical water resource in portions of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, supplying water to farms, forests and communities.
Many plants and animals rely on the timing and amount of snowmelt. Specifically, trees that rely on snowpack for insulation from freezing temperatures and fish that rely on streamflow levels for spawning.
Right now, over a 30-year period, the regional snowpack has decreased with climate change with 34.3 inches considered “normal.”
For more information about snowpack and how this impacts our region, go to the US Department of Agriculture’s website.
