OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee has declared a drought emergency for three regions in Washington state.
The emergency was declared Friday, prompted by record low snowpack levels. Officials say the worst drought conditions are expected in the Olympic Peninsula, the east side of the central Cascade Mountains including Yakima and Wenatchee, and the Walla Walla region.
Inslee’s office said that snowpack in the Olympic Mountains is 7 percent of normal; in the Cascades, it ranges from 8 to 45 percent of normal; and is 67 percent of normal in the Walla Walla region. The state has had an unusually warm winter, and with snowpack statewide averaging 27 percent of normal, 34 of the state’s 62 watersheds are expected to receive less than 75 percent of their normal water supplies, the governor’s office says.
The Department of Ecology has requested $9 million in drought relief from the Legislature.
