December’s Snow A Bit Of A Disappointment, Pattee Says
The Washington snowpack is looking good for this time of year.
But good is not great.
Scott Pattee with NRCS Washington said December was a bit of a letdown after such as strong start to the snow year in November.
“Quite a bit less than it was last month. But surprisingly, at least in some parts of the state, we did not receive normal snowpack for December. We kind of had two periods in there, one earlier in the month, and then one later there, right before Christmas. And those are really the only significant storms that we received.”
Snowpack totals vary from 132% of normal in the Central Puget Sound, and 130% in the Spokane, to 79% of average in the Olympic basin. Pattee stresses the snowpack looks good for right now, but the future is questionable.
“But unfortunately, you know every day that goes by, like the last few that we don't get don't have snowfall, we actually fall further behind. I looked yesterday and we were 110% of normal statewide as of today 108% so we lost two percentage points just in one day because of the lack of snow fall.”
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