Dry times: Drought or no drought, Basin enters wildfire season with record-low precipitation

The Columbia Basin is seeing record-low precipitation.

The National Center for Environmental Information determines “normal” precipitation by comparing 30 years of data. Odessa’s March normal, for example, is 1.07 inches, but the National Weather Service recorded the amount of precipitation as “trace.”

Ephrata’s March normal is 0.68 inches. March 2021 saw 0.03.

According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, the Columbia Basin currently sits at a D2 or severe drought. For short periods within the last year, however, it has dipped into extreme and even exceptional drought.

In many places, agriculture would see the brunt of this damage. With the Columbia Basin’s unique irrigation system, however, this isn’t the case.

“We’re a bit insulated from that, which is fortunate,” said Derek Friehe of Moses Lake’s Friehe Farms. “Our water’s coming down from Canada and I don’t anticipate they’ll run out anytime soon.”

Water in the Basin comes from the Columbia River, originating in the ice field of the Canadian Rockies, said Andrew McGuire, an agronomist for WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources. Basin irrigation only takes 3% of the river’s flow.

“The local irrigation system (makes) it nearly drought proof, unlike the systems that rely on snow in the Cascades to store water, like in the Yakima Valley,” he wrote in an email. “So, even though Central WA is still in a severe to extreme drought, the irrigation system should be just fine.”

No system is fully drought proof, said Megan Kernan, Department of Fish and Wildlife drought coordinator. There are many factors which can indicate the livelihood of agriculture.

Precipitation does play a role, McGuire said. Rain helps dryland agriculture and fall-planted crops, such as winter wheat. Rain also helps with early spring planting, before the irrigation system is full and functioning. However, this depends more on precipitation in late winter, not in the dry season.

When any place in Washington declares a drought, a statewide campaign is launched of funding, resources and communication to help ameliorate it, Kernan said. But their criteria for determining a drought is different from the National Drought Mitigation Center’s Drought Monitor.

For the state to declare a drought, as it’s done statewide, water levels have to be at or less than 75% of what is considered normal for the geographic area, she said. Also, the water deficiency has to result in severe hardship for agricultural users, people or wildlife.

“The Drought Monitor indicates dryness and drought frequently,” Kernan said. “I don’t think it’s wrong, but the threshold for that is a little lower than the state’s threshold to declare.”

According to state criteria, Washington isn’t technically seeing drought levels, at least not enough for a formal declaration -- yet.

In June 2020, a new drought advisory law came into effect, providing greater messaging and resources to those vulnerable to droughts without a formal declaration. Since it passed, it has not been used.

However, the Water Supply Availability Committee, a group of federal water experts from the National Resources Conservation Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service and others coordinated by the Department of Ecology, will meet on May 14 to discuss what the water supply is looking like this year.

This year could be challenging, Kernan said. While the snow pack levels are stable compared to years past, precipitation is much lower than usual.

“Even though we were looking at a more comfortable place when we saw all the snow pack come together and look pretty normal, now we’re seeing this dryness, this lack of precipitation, which is a really tough thing in the spring for the ag community, but also what does this mean for later in the summer?” she said.

When a water level is impacted by drought, it could mean fish strandings, higher temperatures killing off fish, lack of grazing opportunities for land mammals and conglomeration of species, resulting in the spread of disease, she said.

“There’s a whole slough of impacts,” she said, “and that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.”

According to the Department of Natural Resources, Washington’s fire season lasts from April to October. Last year, they responded to 1,851 fires in that time, more than any other season for a decade. In eastern Washington, fires last year scorched 493,683 acres.

While drought conditions can certainly exacerbate wildfires, they occur at an alarming rate in Washington regardless, Kernan said. Land management and weather patterns play an equally big role.

When Washington declares a drought, it’s statewide, she said. This happened in 2019 due to alarming snowpack levels, but “bumps of precip” made it not as bad as officials initially feared.

While there has been no drought advisory in the state for 2021, it’s still early, she said.

“This year could be the opposite (of 2019), where we come in going ‘snowpack looks pretty good.’ It’s been dry, but if it doesn’t rain for another two months we could be in really bad shape,” she said. “It’s just one of those super dynamic things that you just got to watch and be prepared. We’re always trying to be prepared and resilient to drought impacts. It’s one of those things that can turn fast.”

This could be the year to use the new advisory mechanism, she said.

“I can certainly see (the Water Supply Availability Committee) deciding that this would be a good year to try out the new tool in the toolbox and let people know that this would be a good year to conserve.”