YBSA Monthly Report January, 2014
YBSA Monthly Report
January, 2014
Weather: Everyone is holding their breath hoping the weather pattern will change and provide the snowpack necessary to provide the approximately 2 million acre/feet of water from the snowpack along with 1 million acre/feet that is stored in the 5 reservoirs. The 3 million acre/feet provides the instream flow and out-of-stream needs annually in the Yakima Basin.
Spokesman Review Article from the Spokesman Review, January 4, 2014 by Mike Prayer: The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that abnormally dry conditions have moved into the Columbia Basin as well as the Cascades. In the mountains of the Inland Northwest, snowpack on Friday, January 3rd was about 76% of normal for this time of the year. That compares with 33% to 44% of normal in the Central Cascades of Washington.
KNDO News Report “Low Snowpack Gives Yakima Valley Farmers Concern”, KNDO-TV January 29, 2014: As many of you have noticed, this winter has been especially mild and skiers aren’t the only ones who are upset. Water from snowpack up in the Cascades trickles all the way down to farms in the lower valley. With an unusually mild winter so far, farmers are beginning to prepare for what could be a water shortage.
As California experiences its driest season on record, farmers in the Yakima Valley worry about their own water supply. “The Yakima Basin could be facing a little bit of a challenge,” farmer Jim Willard said.
Despite a few recent snow storms, snowpack levels are hovering right around 60 percent of normal. Jim Willard grows wine grapes, apples and cherries in Prosser. Melting snow from the Cascades provides a large amount of the water farmers in the valley, like Jim, use for their crops. “Two thirds of that water is in the annual snowpack, so that makes a big difference,” Willard said.
If snowpack levels don’t improve it can cause farmers to dip into emergency wells or even leave some land empty. “Any crop out here needs an adequate water supply,” Willard said. “It just depends on how much we have available.”
Snowpack has left other merchants worried as well. Mark Barrett, owner of Barrett Orchards in Yakima, is a fourth generation farmer. He hasn’t a seen a snow pack this low in years. Maybe 1 or 2 years in the last 20 that we’ve been this low at this point that I can remember,” Mark Barrett said.
Things can still turn around though.
“It’s not a good pattern but hopefully the weather pattern will change and we’ll get more snow,” Willard said. Farmers in the valley missed out on a white Christmas, so now they’re desperately hoping for a white spring. Farmers say no need to sound the alarm quite yet, with a strong next couple of months, snowpack levels may still return to normal.
Summary of Climate Change Effects by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife National Wildlife Federation July, 2011: The Yakima River Basin April 1st SWE (Snowpack Water Equivalent) is projected to decrease by 34% by the 2020s, 53% by the 2040s, and 80% by the 2080s as compared to the 1980s. Over the next 70 years the spring peak stream flow are projected to occur in mid-February and will likely cause the Yakima River Basin to shift to a rain-dominate basin. Climate change is expected to cause a decline in snowpack and earlier snowmelt resulting in reduced water supplies. Snowpack declines are expected to exacerbate existing water shortages in the Yakima Basin due to changes in runoff. The system is projected to become increasingly unable to meet deliveries to junior water right holders.
Copy of Draft EIS: To receive a copy of the draft EIS for Lake Kachess and Cle Elum email yrbwep@usbr.gov.
Go to www.ybsa.org for additional information.