Typically March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. But if you look at the numbers this year, March is leaving the same way it came in, dry. According to Marilyn Lohmann, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, some portions of the Northwest received only 25%-50% of their normal monthly precipitation totals.

“That dryness kind of extends all the way back into the calendar year.  For a lot of the area, we’ve seen only 50%-75% of normal precipitation since January 5th, and then the water year, overall, about 70%-80% of normal for a lot of the region.”

April is typically a month where we see a lot of change; everything from additional daylight hours, to warmer temperatures and often precipitation. But Lohman says it doesn’t look like that change is coming anytime soon.

“The overall patterns continues to be more of this kind of cooler than normal and unfortunately, not a lot of precipitation to kind of get some more recharge.”

What kind of impact will this weather have on the snowpack? For more, listen to our podcast with Lohmann.




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