Ridenbaugh Press

And so 2005 comes to a close … with a lot of rain.

Metaphors aside, that’s a good thing, however tired some of us may be getting at the steady rainfall and periodic light flooding. The flooding, we can at least console ourselves, hasn’t done much damage or overflowed many critical waterways. And as for the rainfall … well, we just need to take care as we go out to celebrate tonight.

And there is something in this to celebrate.

According to the national snowpack recordkeepers, the region is more or less on track for a good, solid snowpack this year, something we haven’t been able to say for quite a few seasons.

As see below. (The standalone numbers refer to percentage of norm, which loosely means that 100% means an average and adequate snow supply.)

	
IDAHO
  PANHANDLE REGION ....................... 13 of 17      64        83
  CLEARWATER BASIN ............................. 14 of 15      77        93
  SALMON BASIN ................................. 22 of 22     118       117
  WEISER BASIN .................................  3 of  4     113       130
  PAYETTE BASIN ................................  9 of 11     122       124
  BOISE BASIN .................................. 10 of 11     129       133
  BIG WOOD BASIN ...............................  9 of  9     137       132
  LITTLE WOOD BASIN ............................  4 of  5     135       137
  BIG LOST BASIN ...............................  4 of  5     134       126
  LITTLE LOST, BIRCH BASINS ....................  4 of  4     101       100
  MEDICINE LODGE, BEAVER, CAMAS BASINS .........  6 of  6     111       122
  HENRYS FORK, TETON BASINS ....................  9 of  9     115       123
  SNAKE BASIN ABOVE PALISADES .................. 17 of 18     110       113
  WILLOW, BLACKFOOT, PORTNEUF BASINS ...........  5 of  5     101       115
  OAKLEY BASIN .................................  3 of  3     143       145
  SALMON FALLS BASIN ...........................  5 of  5     128       126
  BRUNEAU BASIN ................................  5 of  5     127       122
  OWYHEE BASIN .................................  7 of  8      98       120
  BEAR RIVER BASIN ............................. 14 of 15     116       112
OREGON
  OWYHEE .......................................  7 of  7      98       120
  MALHEUR ......................................  2 of  3     168       140
  GRAND RONDE, POWDER, BURNT, IMNAHA ........... 13 of 14     102       105
  UMATILLA, WALLA WALLA, WILLOW ................  6 of  9      84        94
  JOHN DAY .....................................  9 of 10     140       118
  DESCHUTES, CROOKED ........................... 11 of 11     127       117
  LOWER COLUMBIA, HOOD RIVER ...................  6 of  7      86       100
  COAST RANGE ..................................  1 of  2      80        97
  WILLAMETTE ................................... 17 of 18      86       107
  ROGUE, UMPQUA ................................  7 of 10      96       146
  KLAMATH ......................................  9 of 14     148       151
  LAKE COUNTY, GOOSE LAKE ......................  5 of  9     134       158
  HARNEY .......................................  6 of  7     139       133
WASHINGTON
  PRIEST, COEUR D'ALENE, ST.
     JOE, SPOKANE, PALOUSE BASINS .............. 12 of 13      61        82
  COLUMBIA ABOVE METHOW ........................  3 of  5      79        88
  CHELAN, ENTIAT, WENATCHEE ....................  8 of  8      80        85
  UPPER YAKIMA .................................  5 of  5      84        81
  LOWER YAKIMA .................................  7 of  7     102        99
  WALLA WALLA, TOUCHET .........................  2 of  4      83        93
  LEWIS, COWLITZ ...............................  7 of 10      83        91
  WHITE, GREEN, PUYALLUP .......................  5 of  8      84        86
  CEDAR, SNOQUALMIE, SKYKOMISH, TOLT ...........  9 of  9      73        78

All of which means that Idaho is running just slightly ahead of the norm, Oregon is just about at the norm (with variations from basin to basin) and Washington just a little behind, but not by a lot.

It’s not all over yet, of course. Another four months or so, and we’ll see just how well off we are next summer.