North Idaho's drought drowning in wet weather
BILL BULEY | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 weeks, 1 day AGO
Despite a lack of snow down low, snowpack is doing well in North Idaho's mountains.
BILL BULEY/Press
Bill Buley covers the city of Coeur d'Alene for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has worked here since January 2020, after spending seven years on Kauai as editor-in-chief of The Garden Island newspaper. He enjoys running. | January 3, 2025 1:08 AM
North Idaho’s drought may be coming to an end.
According to the Idaho Department of Water Resources, the mountain snow water equivalent as of Monday was 135% of normal in the northern Panhandle Region, including 127% in Kootenai County and 143% in Priest Lake.
David Hoekema, IDWR hydrologist, said conditions are wetter and warmer for this time of year.
“Northern Idaho has been under significant drought the last two years,” Hoekema said Thursday. “This should eliminate it.”
“I expect the northern Idaho drought will be wiped out this winter,” he added.
Snowpack statewide is 45% of the median peak snowpack that is expected around April 1. As a rule of thumb, on Jan. 1 IDWR expects 40% of the median peak, 60% of the median peak Feb. 1, 80% on March 1 and 100% of the median peak snowpack April 1.
“So far across the states everybody is doing well,” Hoekema said. “We’re a little ahead this year from where we normally are. By April 1, we should have it all.”
Only a few basins have less than normal snowpack for this time of year, Hoekema said, most of those being in the Salmon River basin.
In his recent report, Hoekema said October was the ninth-warmest and 18th-driest in the 130-year record for Idaho.
Conditions began to turn around in November, when temperatures statewide were just below normal and precipitation was .39 inches above normal.
In December, warm conditions returned, preventing snow from reaching the valley floor along the Boise, Payette and Snake rivers in western Idaho, but all of North Idaho's ski resorts have reported good snowfall.
The forecast is calling for rain for the next three days in Coeur d'Alene, and then mostly cloudy next week.
Hoekema said lower elevations, such as in North Idaho, are facing more rain-on-snow events, which can have a negative impact on snowpack.
“Precipitation has been mostly above normal with the exception of the eastern portion of the central mountains,” Hoekema said.
He expects mountain snowpack conditions in Idaho will continue to be solid in January and throughout winter.
“We’re off to a great start and hopefully it just keeps going,” he said. “I expect it will in northern Idaho.”
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