It’s shaping up to be a dry spring, as predicted.
Overall, the snow pillow is behind where we started in 2015, the last big drought year:
Drought monitor for Washington State (most recent regional prediction available): As of April 23, Okanogan County is in a Moderate Drought condition. This is the southern half of the Canada/U.S. Okanagan/Similkameen Basin.
B.C. has not updated its drought map for 2019.
Mission Creek Snow Pillow – April 26, 2019 (Elevation 1794m): This graph shows that freshet is still to come at high elevations, but that the overall snow pack is below normal.
Brenda Mines Snow Pillow – April 26, 2019 (Elevation 1,453 m): This snow pillow shows that the snow is almost entirely melted from the mid-elevations, and is below normal.
Osoyoos Lake: Osoyoos Lake did not meet the April drought criteria for declaring a drought, but there is still concern about low flows in the Similkameen causing water shortages downstream of Osoyoos Lake. The Osoyoos Board of Control is watching the system carefully.