The lack of snow in the Olympics and Cascades is being monitored closely by everyone from ski lift operators to fishermen.
But those in the electric utility industry are casting a broader gaze over the 259,000-square-mile Columbia River drainage basin, an area that includes seven Western states and British Columbia.
Lack of snowfall throughout the West this winter could reduce the amount of water available for hydroelectric power generation later this year, possibly spiking the price of power rates next year.
The Northwest Power Planning Council projects that the region won’t suffer a power shortage because natural gas-fired power plants and other sources are available to make up for lost power — although at a higher cost.
But the agency will have less excess power during the summer, California’s peak energy season.
Those excess power sales account for “a significant chunk” of the federal power marketing agency’s revenue.
Nearly all of the North Olympic Peninsula’s electricity comes through the Bonneville Power Administration’s hydroelectric system.
Less dependent on BPA power is Puget Sound Energy, which serves East Jefferson County except for Brinnon.
But PSE rates could be vulnerable if diminished power supplies are diverted south to California later in the year.
Great (almost) White North
“Canada’s snow level is 90 percent of normal — that’s saving our tail right now,” said Bonneville Power Administration spokesman Bill Merlin.
“Ours are terrible, well below 50 percent and even 30 percent in some areas.
“We’ll meet our power loads for 2005 and we will not change river operations for fish this year.
“What this means for 2006 remains to be seen.”
The Columbia River drainage basin covers parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah and British Columbia.
Bonneville monitors the river based upon streamflows at The Dalles, Ore., where the next-to-last hydroelectric dam is located, about 190 miles upriver from the mouth.
Merlin said the average snowfall across the entire Columbia River basin — an area larger than France — should produce a snow runoff of 72 million acre-feet between January and July of this year.
The average January-July snow runoff for the basin over the past 35 years is 106 million acre-feet, he said.
“So that’s a big difference, 68 percent of normal,” Merlin said.
“If those projections hold, that will be in the lower 15 percent of the entire historical record.”
