WA faces drought emergency for a third year after middling snowpack
Washington is once more under a drought emergency, state officials announced Tuesday, marking the third such declaration in as many years and underscoring the damage wrought by year-after-year droughts.
Droughts here can take on a variety of “flavors,” said Karin Bumbaco, deputy state climatologist. In 2023, the state saw a decent snowpack only for it to largely melt off early during a rash of extreme heat in May. With reservoirs already full, that melted snow had no place to go but out into Puget Sound.
In 2024, warm winter temps led to poor snowpack accumulation. And this year, snowpack struggled across much of the state, lagging especially in the Puget Sound and North Cascades region, falling onto drier-than-normal soils from the year before, compounding the damage.