April showers eradicate drought concerns across most of Washington

After months of unseasonably dry weather across western Washington, skies finally opened up and the month of April brought above average rainfall from Seattle to the South Sound, and all the way to the coast.

The rainfall has helped eradicate the drought across most of Washington, but after speaking to the assistant climatologist for the state we learned another weather inconvenience did, too.

“What really helped this winter situation is how cold our winter was,” said Karin Bumbaco, assistant climatologist for the state of Washington.

In the absence of precipitation, having colder than average temperatures allowed our snowpack to grow in the mountains and that healthy snowpack is working in our favor as temperatures start to climb.

“At this point there are no drought concerns for Washington state,” said Bumbaco.

As of last week, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows Washington has some “abnormally dry” spots, primarily around the Cascades. Bumbaco told KIRO 7 News, “The models that are projecting El Nino La Nina are converging to show that we are likely due for an El Nino late this summer into early fall, next winter.”

According to Bumbaco, “The summer is looking like it will probably be a little bit warmer and drier on average from June through August.” In the winter, this could result in less snowpack for next summer which limits water supplies.

An updated map for drought conditions goes live Thursday and climatologists tell us they’ll continue to monitor changes to our weather closely.

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