OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — A soggy, lingering winter on the North Olympic Peninsula should keep farmers, fish and outdoor enthusiasts happy this summer, water scientists say.
Snowpack in the Olympic Mountains was deemed 190 percent of normal late last week, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service reported.
It marked the second-straight April that the central Olympics had the healthiest snowpack in Washington state.
“That’s two big years,” said Scott Pattee, water-supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
“The Olympics got hit pretty good all year.”
Snowpack is important for irrigation, recreation and fisheries management, Pattee said. Hatcheries, for example, need a good snowpack to spawn fish.
Barring an unusually fast runoff, river rafters and kayakers will have enough water to run the rapids well into summer.
“They should have a good, long season,” Pattee said.
Snow was less consistent in the Cascade Mountains and Eastern Washington, where spring and summer runoff feeds the Columbia River and its power-producing dams.
A series of late-winter storms bolstered Cascade snowpacks from below average to about 120 percent of normal.
The upper Dungeness River basin — vital for summer irrigation in the Olympic Mountains’ rain shadow — is one of four places on the Peninsula where the snow’s water content is measured.
Other snow telemetry, or Snotel, sites are located at:
■ Waterhole near Hurricane Ridge in Clallam County, which eventually feeds the Elwha River.
■ Mount Crag in Jefferson County, which feeds the Big Quilcene River.
■ Buckinghorse in mid-south Jefferson County. It feeds the upper Elwha River.
Pattee said the snowpack percentage for each of the four Olympic Peninsula Snotel sites is consistent.
Last April, the Olympic snowpack was 132 percent of normal.
Because of its close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, yearly snowpack in the Olympics can change dramatically from year to year. A wet and cool winter like 2010-11 will pile up heavy snow.
“The proximity to the ocean can also be a detriment in that you’ll get warm air coming off the Pacific,” Pattee added.
A La Niña pattern like the one currently winding down tends to bring above-average rainfall, increased snowpack and lower temperatures to the Pacific Northwest.
The usual La Niña weather — associated with cooler-than-normal Pacific Ocean waters near the equator — took its time to develop in the Cascades, Pattee said.
“We were pretty concerned there for a while,” he said.
“It looked like La Niña was pulling a joke on us.”
As of last week, state snowpack levels were 121 percent in the North Cascades, 110 percent midrange and 133 percent in the South Cascades.
In Eastern Washington, snowpack was 115 percent above the Yakima Valley, 103 percent in the central Columbia Basin and 122 percent in the upper Columbia Basin.
The National Weather Service in Seattle is calling for more cool and wet weather for the rest of April.
Snow showers are forecast in the Olympics for the balance of this week.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
