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Severe Drought Spreads in Washington

By Don Jenkins, Capital Press

Drought conditions have spread in Washington, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday, with one-third of the state suffering “severe drought” and forecasts predicting that a hot, early summer will follow the extraordinary dry spring.

Drought covered 68% of the state, up from 53% the week before. The percentage of the state in a “severe drought” increased to 33% from 24%.

Portions of Benton, Columbia, Klickitat, Walla Walla and Yakima counties, making up 4% of the state, were in “extreme drought,” the second worst of four drought categories.

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center forecasts that Washington, along with the entire West, will be hotter and drier than normal between June 12-25.
“We could see some serious drought conditions develop by the summer,” Washington State Assistant Climatologist Karin Bumbaco said.

Compared to Oregon, California and the Southwest, Washington’s drought conditions are still mild, but the dry spring has pushed the state to look more like the rest of the West.

Temperatures have been moderate. April, however, was the seventh driest April in the past 127 years, and it followed the 11th driest March.

Combined, the two months were the fourth-driest March through April on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Statewide May figures have not been released.

Washington’s snowpack was the best in nearly a decade. The spring, however, has been drier than in 2015, the year of the state’s “snowpack drought.”

“It goes to show that you can have a dry spring regardless of what happened in the winter,” Bumbaco said. “The drought conditions are all the result of the dry spring.”

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