The Pacific Northwest is again experiencing surging spring heat that shattered temperatures this past week and prompted red-flag warnings for fire risks in lowland portions of Southwest Washington.
Last year, intense May warmth brought a sudden melt of a big mountain snowpack, causing flooding in north central and northeast Washington as the Okanogan River reached its highest flood stage in four decades.
This year, the statewide snowpack, as of Friday, averaged only 58 percent of the median amount for that date. So instead of being concerned about high water, state officials are preparing for summer drought, which can raise the potential for wildfires, reduce irrigation flows to farmers and make life difficult for salmon that depend on cool water to survive.
“When you look at some of the snowpacks in some of the basins, it looks like they are doing a swan dive off a cliff,” said Jeff Marti, a state Ecology Department official who noted that Gov. Jay Inslee already has issued drought-emergency declarations in the Okanogan, Methow and upper Yakima watersheds, because low snowpacks are expected to crimp water supplies.
For Seattle-area residents who endured a snow-laden February, it may seem odd to be talking about drought. But many of the winter storms that hit the Puget Sound region, as well as the Yakima basin, did not bring heavy accumulations in the upper reaches of Cascade drainages that act like a kind of natural reservoir.
In a long cool spring, snow slowly melts to feed the region’s streams and rivers. But the last week has been like the middle of summer: Friday’s high of 86 degrees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport broke the record of 80 degrees set in 1993, according to the National Weather Service.
As snow retreats, the ground underneath quickly dries out. Small fuels already have a low moisture content in lowland areas, and are primed to burn, according to John Saltenberger, fire weather program manager at the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.
Already, as of May 6, there have been reports in Washington of 239 outdoor fires, ranging from false alarms to smoldering campfires to woodland blazes, and that’s the highest number in the past decade, according to Janet Pearce of the Department of Natural Resources.
These fires collectively burned 570 acres.
The outlook for the summer months is for an above-average risk for larger fires in the Pacific Northwest.
