PNW - Central Cascades Snowpack Ranging From 8-45% Of Average, Olympic Peninsula @ 4% [View all]

[hatrack]

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And yet on Friday, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee declared droughts on the Olympic Peninsula, which has three separate rainforests; as well as on the east side of the Central Cascade Mountains, Washington's answer to Central Valley agriculture; and in the Walla Walla region, the state's main wine country.

Because there's drought, and then there's drought. "What we're experiencing is essentially a snowpack drought," Maia Bellon, director of the state Department of Ecology, told reporters Friday. "As of this very moment, the projected snowpack is 4% of normal in the Olympic Mountains."

In the Central Cascades, snowpack is 8% to 45% of normal, and in the Walla Walla area, it's 67% of normal. The long-range forecast calls for drier, warmer weather, Bellon said, and "conditions are expected to get worse."

A statewide drought has not been declared in Washington since 2005, but the perilous snow levels mean other parts of the state are being monitored in case the emergency declaration must be broadened. To get ready for a long, hot summer, officials have requested $9 million in drought relief funds from the state Legislature and are prepared to make temporary changes to water rights so that crops and fish have an adequate water supply.

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http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-washington-state-drought-20150314-story.html