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State climatologist: three years of deficient snowpack compounded by warm, dry 2025; La Nia1a raises hope but recovery uncertain
Summary
Deputy state climatologist Karen Bombacco told a legislative committee that a string of low snowpack years and a very warm 2025 produced persistent water deficits; a weak La Nia1a raises odds of a wetter winter but temperature uncertainty means recovery in basins like Upper Yakima is unlikely in a single year.
Karen Bombacco, Washington's deputy state climatologist, told the Joint Legislative Committee on Water Supply that the state's drought reflects a combination of three consecutive years of below-average snowpack and an unusually warm, dry 2025 water year.
Bombacco presented April 1 snowpack figures showing many Cascade locations well below median (Central Puget Sound reported around 67% of median) and described January as especially anomalous, with statewide precipitation at roughly 35% of normal and ranking among the driest since 1895. Snowpack also peaked early this year (March 25 compared with a typical April 5 peak) and melted quickly in April,…
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