BOISE COUNTY – A lot of snowfall in January has greatly brightened the outlook for Idaho’s water year.
Hydrologists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service traveled up to the Mores Creek Summit Tuesday to measure the snowpack. What they found was six feet of snow, and that’s good news for water users like farmers and recreationists.
January storms dumped about four feet of new snow in the mountains.
Hydrologists take five measurements and then average them out.
A month ago, the snowpack was at about 50 percent of average, but Tuesday’s measurements show we are now at 91 percent of normal for this time of year. Although we are still below normal, that’s a welcome change from December.
It’s difficult to predict summer water usage, the biggest factor will be how hot it gets. Water experts are still hoping for more snow and a wet spring to carry us through the summer months.
