Snow and rain forecast: Good news and not so good

There is potentially good news and potentially bad news for salmon, steelhead, and the water supply in the Columbia River Basin as spring approaches.

The potentially good news is that mountain snowpack in most of the basin is average or better at the beginning of March. If the trend continues, that‘s good news as the salmon and steelhead runs begin to pick up. The beginning of the annual spring freshet, when streams and rivers rise with runoff from the melting snow, is about a month and a half away, as is the time when the spring salmon and steelhead runs usually peak.

Any improvement in runoff conditions would be welcome compared to 2015, when a lingering drought devastated the snowpack and led to lethally high water temperatures – for cold-water fish -- in the Columbia during the summer.

The snowpack map is updated periodically and is posted online by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) at www.nrcs.usda.gov.

Meanwhile, the potentially bad news is that the near-term precipitation forecast is less favorable. In its March-to-May precipitation outlook, the NRCS says its forecast “favors above-normal temperatures across much of the continental U.S., Hawaii, and all of Alaska.” At the same time, the NRCS predicts “below-median precipitation” for the Pacific Northwest and portions of the northern Rockies.