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Wet and Wild May Adds Little to Streamflow Forecast by Bill Rudolph NW Fishletter, June 22, 2004

Though many Northwest watersheds finally saw precip level above normal, the wet weather that May brought did little to ease the water supply forecast. The latest update to the April-Sept. forecast for the Columbia River above The Dalles is up to about 80 percent of average, but better upstream at Grand Coulee where it's 85 percent of average. On the BC side, it's even higher, with April-Sept. inflow to Mica Reservoir pegged at 94 percent of average.

However, the Snake River Basin is another story, with April-July inflows to Lower Granite Reservoir estimated at only 71 percent of average. The April-July numbers for the Clearwater Basin at Orofino are 94 percent of average, but in the Snake's Hells Canyon, the April-July water supply was estimated at only 41 percent of normal.

The Yakima Basin was better off with 83 percent of its average water supply expected through September.

So far, a rainy June in some parts of the region helped to ease water concerns as well, with central Washington getting 191 percent of average precipitation and the southeast part of the state getting 206 percent of its average. Overall, the Columbia Basin above The Dalles saw 140 percent of average precip for the month, with places like the Clearwater and Upper John Day basins getting 200 percent of average precipitation.