Drought persists in North Idaho

A cold and wet February may have boosted the state's snowpack, but North Idaho’s mountains remain below or near normal.

"It’s notable that even with well above normal February precipitation, many basins still are below normal for total water year precipitation conditions," Natural Resource Conservation Service officials said in the agency's Idaho Water Supply Outlook March 1 report. "This underscores the impact of the dry October and January."

The bottom line? North Idaho and the Wood and Lost basins in south-central Idaho are still experiencing drought conditions even after the wetter-than-normal February.

“Wet conditions are needed in March to pull those areas out of drought,” officials said in the report. “Fortunately, the one-month outlook predicts wetter than normal conditions across Idaho in March.” 

While January was dry, February was the opposite, NRCS officials said in the report. A strong atmospheric river brought large amounts of moisture to the region with the Coeur d'Alene-St. Joe Basin receiving 110% of normal while the Owyhee Basin received 250% of normal. The Pend Oreille-Kootenai Basin received 116% of normal, including 6.6 inches recorded at the Bear Mountain SNOTEL site in Bonner County. Many other sites in the region received 3.3 inches of precipitation between Feb. 22-27 during the weather event.

That said, conditions were inconsistent in the Panhandle region with temperatures colder than normal during the first half of February.

The report said streamflow forecasts are near or above normal across Idaho “except in the Panhandle where forecasts reflect the below normal conditions.” 

Streamflow forecasts are lowest in the Coeur d’Alene-St. Joe Basin, estimated at 71% to 84%; and slightly higher in the Pend Oreille-Kootenai Basin, estimated at 84% to 91%, according to the report.

As of March 1, the precipitation in the Pend Oreille-Kootenai Basin is 86% of normal while in the Coeur d'Alene-St. Joe Basin the total is 79%.

Snowpack numbers improved slightly in February with the Panhandle basins — the Pend Oreille-Kootenai and Coeur d'Alene-St. Joe Basin — showing 96% and 84% of normal as of March 1, according to NRCS data.

While unseasonably dry and warm conditions throughout Idaho are leading to widespread snowmelt in early March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center is predicting cooler and wetter conditions through the end of the month.

Roughly 44% of Idaho is categorized as abnormally dry or still in drought with drought conditions persisting throughout North Idaho.

According to the federal drought monitor website, Boundary County is abnormally dry as is the northern half of Bonner County. Kootenai County shows a mix of dry and moderate drought conditions, while almost all of Shoshone County shows moderate drought conditions. Like Kootenai County, Benewah County shows a mix of dry conditions to moderate drought.

Snowpack continues to improve in the region but remains below to near normal with the Coeur d’Alene-St. Joe Basin sitting at just 81% of normal as of Saturday, March 8, putting it within the moderate drought category, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The Pend Oreille-Kootenai Basin sits at 91%. Data on the website is updated on an ongoing basis, highlighting changing conditions over the past week.

The Priest and Pend Oreille Lake sub-basins sit at 99% of snow water equivalent, while the Lower Kootenai sub-basin to the north and upper Coeur d'Alene sub-basin to the south sit at 84%. The Yaak, Lower Clark Fork and Middle Kootenai are respectively at 80%, 82% and 86% snow water equivalent. SWE is a common snowpack measurement that represents the amount of water found in the snowpack.