El Niño’s taking a big bite out of the Northwest’s ice-cold liquid reserve, prompting early concern about the potential for a summertime drought.
Characterized by warm sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, El Niño generally results in warmer- and drier-than-normal conditions in the Northwest. Conditions on Mount Hood certainly reflect the trend, according to a federal hydrologist who trekked to the mountain Friday.
“The snowpack in the Mount Hood basin is about 50 percent of average,” said Jon Lea, hydrologist with the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The Columbia River basin as a whole isn’t faring much better.
Automated snow survey stations on the U.S. side of the sprawling Columbia basin indicate the snowpack stands at about 64 percent of average for this time of year, Lea said. That doesn’t include data on the Canadian side of the border, but the snow-poor images from the Winter Olympics in Vancouver don’t bode well.
“It’s sort of the typical El Niño year,” Lea said.
A healthy snowpack is important because, in contrast to many other major river basins, most of the water that flows out of the Columbia River first clings to the mountains as snow. Abundant spring and summer runoff irrigates crops, propels ocean-bound salmon and generates the bulk of the region’s energy supply.
In that respect, water carries a significant price tag.
Power rates
Three weeks ago, the Bonneville Power Administration cut its revenue forecast for the current fiscal year by $240 million due to the relatively meager winter snowpack, increasing the pressure to boost rates for customers such as Clark Public Utilities. Projections of river runoff have dwindled slightly since then.
“We do have time for Mother Nature to play catch-up,” BPA spokesman Doug Johnson said. “We’re going to watch very closely in March and hope things turn around.”
Lea noted that similar conditions occurred in 2001 and in 2005. The first year led to a stubborn drought, while a surge of heavy precipitation in March pulled the region back from the brink in 2005.
Erik Robinson: 360-735-4551 or erik.robinson@columbian.com.
