By Don Jenkins, Capital Press

NDMC

A swath of Central Washington between Canada and Oregon has fallen into a “severe” drought, even though the state’s winter snowpack was above average for the eighth time in the past decade.

Washington State Assistant Climatologist Karin Bumbaco said Thursday that more storms than usual came from the west rather than the southwest. The storms hit the Cascade straight on, dumping snow at higher elevations but were tapped out by the time they got to the eastside, she said.

“The rain shadow was really strong this winter,” Bumbaco said.

The U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that the severe drought covers more than 12% of the state, touching parts of Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas, Grant, Yakima and Benton counties. Some 18% of the state, also in Central Washington, is in a “moderate” drought.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center predicts the Northwest and Northern California will be warmer and drier than normal in May, June and July.

“If that’s accurate, we’ll probably expect the severe drought to persist through the summer and possibly get worse,” Bumbaco said.