Cooler Wet Weather Has Eased Idaho Drought

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX)-The mood at the monthly water meeting in Boise remained positive as cooler wet conditions have helped ease Idaho's drought. During the Idaho Water Supply Meeting on Thursday morning, water experts said the impact of drought has been lessened but, will persist through the year. According to David Hoekema, hydrologist for the Idaho Department of Water Resources, there hasn't been enough moisture to end the drought. April and early May weather helped increase the snowpack in the mountains for the most part. The Gem State gained about 1 million acre-feet of water supply thanks to the spring weather. Many mountainous areas that supply water to the valleys did gain some more snow that has remained and not melted off. Daniel Tappa with the United State Department of Agriculture said in his presentation that as of May 1, snowpack improved however, conditions are not ideal, "Even though we've seen improvements in the snow water equivalent for May 1, early May, especially compared to early April, we largely missed the peak snowpack across the entire state." He did note that because temperatures have been cooler the moisture that did fall came down as snow instead of water. In addition, spring runoff was low for April and remains delayed as not much has melted off the mountains, again thanks to the cooler weather. Still, continued drought is expected as the summer months approach. Troy Lindquist with the U.S. National Weather Service noted the summer forecast predictions call for above-normal temperatures and lower precipitation.

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