Mammoth snowpacks generate encouraging outlook about region's water supply

That snow you see still covering the Cascade foothills shows this is not a normal year.

In fact, we're setting a record for the amount of water contained in all that snow, piled above the rivers that drain into King and Snohomish counties.

More than double the normal amount of snow was there at the start of April, thanks to a winter of back-to-back snowstorms followed by an unseasonably cool March, according to a new forecast by the federal agency that tracks the region's water supply. The previous record, 197 percent of normal, was set in 1974.

Statewide, everyone from farmers to hydroelectric dam operators are looking at an unusually wet year. Around Washington, the snowpack is at 142 percent of average this time of year, according to the report by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

"There's definitely going to be enough water for the fish and the rafters and everybody else," said Scott Pattee, who wrote the report.

Only the Wenatchee area is experiencing a relative shortfall. But in a year of super-snowpacks, that still means 100 percent of the normal level.

For the city of Seattle, which gets all of its drinking water from the Tolt and Cedar rivers, the mammoth snowpack takes off some of the pressure when it comes to balancing water in the rivers for fish, versus water for lawns and toilets.

"We're very, very comfortable," said Tom Fox, who manages the part of Seattle Public Utilities that runs the drinking-water reservoirs.

On the other side of the Cascades, the rosy outlook means farmers in the Yakima Valley won't be worrying about what crops to plant, said Tom Monroe, operations manager for the Roza Irrigation District. The district, which supplies water to farmers in the valley, is often one of the first to see their water supplies rationed in case of a drought.

The Bonneville Power Administration is looking at a promising year for its hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River. Snow draining into that river is at 109 percent of normal, according to the forecast. But BPA spokesman Scott Simms said a sudden bout of warm weather could still melt snows too quickly.

"Certainly those numbers are encouraging," he said. "We're still very much at the whim of mother nature between now and early spring late summer."

Pattee, however, said April is expected to bring more cool temperatures.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com