2022 drought conditions

[Janice]

Another:

View attachment 109547

Why is the southeast corner so low, especially compared to the rest of the state? Is that typically a much drier part of the state?

 

[mike_offerman]

We are just South of the red section in Colorado, and we didn't receive a drop of moisture East of the foothills in April. That and lots of wind has really dried things out. But in general, that is a fairly dry section of Wy.

 

[Rockskipper]

Mike, your comment reminded me of a time I backpacked onto the northern section of the San Rafael Reef and when I camped for the night, didn't worry about filling up my water bottles, as there were lots of full potholes all around me. When I got up the next morning, everything was bone dry from the all-night winds.

 

[Bob]

Newer map ....

 

[John Morrow]

Not a happy map

 

[Jackson]

Some great late season storms have been moving through the Northwest and have really bolstered the snowpack. Probably doesn't fully make up for the poor winter we had, but it's nice to see that even here in the Gallatin drainage, we're at 100% of normal snowpack. Still not looking great for most places south of Idaho though.

 

[Yvonne]

meanwhile, here at home, La Nina is responsible for more than a normal snowpack.

 

[Jackson]

meanwhile, here at home, La Nina is responsible for more than a normal snowpack.

At least somewhere's got it good!

 

[Bob]

At least somewhere's got it good!

Fires not really related to snowpack...fire season up there is later in summer

 

[Jackson]

Fires not really related to snowpack...fire season up there is later in summer

I wasn't specifically talking about fire, but that is good to know!

 

[Yvonne]

Fires not really related to snowpack...fire season up there is later in summer

good to know, but at least we got all the moisture in the soil needed.
Postholing season, here we come, lol
This will need a while to melt.
Mount Rainier has still 161 inches of snow in the mid elevations at Paradise

 

[Yvonne]

meanwhile, in Washington State
We got dumped with snow in April due to La Nina conditions
This will take a long time for the trails to melt out. I wouldn't be surprised to see snow in August in the mountains

https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/data/water/wcs/gis/maps/wa_swepctnormal_update.pdf

 

[regehr]

I drove past Boulder Mountain the other day, incredible to see an almost complete lack of snow on north-facing slopes above 11,000'

 

[fossana]

NYT and WaPo just published some grim stats on the wildfire season(s) ahead, more from the residential property risk perspective but still relevant.

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2022/wildfire-risk-map-us
• https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/16/climate/wildfire-risk-map-properties.html (seems to be some data gaps, like the E Bay Area)

 

[donkiluminate]

I drove past Boulder Mountain the other day, incredible to see an almost complete lack of snow on north-facing slopes above 11,000'

Me too. It was quite disheartening. Not only was there no snow but it already looked dry.

 

[Jackson]

This very wet middle/end of spring has really boosted snowpack for a lot of places.

I know that average snowpack is a low value toward the end of the season, so any snowfall will drastically change the current value for percent of normal, but still. Nice to see a lot of dark blue on there. And even the NV, UT, and CO numbers got a bump.

 

[John Goering]

I know that average snowpack is a low value toward the end of the season, so any snowfall will drastically change the current value for percent of normal, but still. Nice to see a lot of dark blue on there. And even the NV, UT, and CO numbers got a bump.

My place north of Bozeman pretty much lives on mid elevation snowpack that would normally be gone by now but there really wasn't much anything to start with. Stream flows were dismal going into April. May, on the other hand, has been the most wet I ever recall with a 6.61" tally. Steam flows are back to what you would expect. I hope it keeps coming for another month and it at least puts smoke season back where it belongs.

 

[futurafree]

Does snow water equivalent count all precipitation, or only snow that sticks and adds to the snowpack? Dumb question from down South.

 

[LarryBoy]

Does snow water equivalent count all precipitation, or only snow that sticks and adds to the snowpack? Dumb question from down South.

Basically - if you took a section of the current snowpack and melted it all down, how many inches of water would it it produce?

So SWE isn't the total amount of precip, it's just the current amount of water that's locked in the current snowpack, awaiting the melt.

 

[Kmatjhwy]

Gosh, this is Absolutely Awesome! Hope this holds off the fires for this summer. Interesting the northern country has been inundated with moisture, but the southwest is just so dry.