Lohmann: Water Year Off To A Slow Start

It’s cold across the Inland Northwest, which you should expect for the first week of November.  But what is not typical for this time of year is how dry it is.  Marilyn Lohmann with the National Weather Service said the Water Year which started October 1^st, is off to a slow start.

“I kind of thought we were on the wet side, but when you look at October, a lot of locations it was very cold, with a lot of record cold Octobers, but it was actually quite dry for many of them as well.  Across the region a lot of locations have only 60%-80% of normal precipitation so far for the water year.”

And those dry conditions can be concerning, especially when you talk about fires, and how quickly they can spread despite the cooler temperatures.

Will we see those precipitation numbers improve in the next week?  Lohmann said don’t count on it.

“Well, this dry stretch of weather will continue over the next seven days with some chilly nights and those season daytime readings.  Overnight lows in the 20's and 30's, with highs being able to get into the 40's, and even some mid and upper 50's for some of the lowest elevation locations.”

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