Although it hasn't snowed much in recent weeks at lower elevations, the snowpack in the mountains seems to be pretty close to normal this year.??
The Spokane-Coeur d’Alene-St. Joe Basin snowpack is at about 92% of normal.? To the north, the Kootenai-Pend Oreille Basins are at 104% of normal for this time of year.??
Erin Whorton is the hydrologist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service snow survey in Idaho. She says the heavy precipitation we had earlier this week has bolstered that mountain snowpack in some locations.??
“The big rain on snow events this week resulted in increased snowpack in some areas, and actually loss of snow water content in areas like the Schweitzer basin, where it was warm enough where freezing levels were up high, and it rained on the snow and actually caused a loss of snowpack water content," she said.
With three months left in the normal snow accumulation season it's expected that if La Nina conditions continue, it will mean increased precipitation and cooler temperatures. If that is the case, the outlook looks good for the year's water supply.???
