U.S. Water News Online
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- A wet October got Idaho's new water year off on the right foot, but the outlook for snow through the winter is not optimistic.
Above average rainfall last month got the ground moist so that more of the melt from the winter snowpack will reach the reservoirs rather than soak in next spring.
"We didn't get a lot of yield from the snowmelt last spring," said Lyle Swank, an engineer with the Idaho Department of Water Resources. "But with this wet before the cold, we've got a better chance of getting more runoff from the same amount of snow."
Even with the right start, however, the end of the drought will require heavier than normal snowfall this month through March and no break in cold temperatures, Swank and other experts agree.
That is something the National Weather Service's long-term forecast does not anticipate.
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