Five western states – Idaho, Utah, Washington, Oregon and California – saw the hottest June this year in 121 years of record-keeping, says the weekly Drought Monitor. For Washington State, it was the third-driest June ever, and it was the ninth-driest for Oregon. “The heat and dryness in the Pacific Northwest led to intensification” of drought ratings, said the Monitor, and to a larger area under drought. All of Oregon and Washington are in drought now, compared to 92.5 percent of Washington a week ago and 98.6 percent of Oregon. Some 42.3 percent of Montana is in drought, compared to 40.6 percent last week.
In Washington, “heat and lack of rain worsened an existing water shortage created by historically low snowpacks,” said Capital Press. Some 86 percent of the state was classified as in severe drought, up 40 points in a week. Severe drought is the mid-point in a five-step scale that begins at abnormally dry and peaks at exceptional drought. “There has been no measurable precipitation at the Yakima Basin’s five reservoirs since May,” said the newspaper.
Worsening drought in the Northwest was a counterpoint to the easing of conditions east of the Rockies, thanks to heavy spring rains that washed away drought in the Plains and Midwest. Including the West, 26 percent of the contiguous 48 states are in drought, down 11 points from when spring arrived.