What started out as a real poor water year has shown something of a dramatic improvement in the last few weeks. Most of the main river basins that supply water to the Salmon, Snake and Clearwater rivers have reached or are at above "normal" snow pack. With a record number of Juvinile salmon headed to the ocean right now thats a good think. Hoping that they will spill some water downstream and give em a chance. Should be a big time return in 2006 with a good portion of those fish being wild. My fingers are crossed !!!

B-Run, this wintery spring has been kind to our meager winter snow packs. Other parts of the Columbia Basin are now mostly in the 80-90% of normal, which is a significant improvement over mid-winter conditions. Basins on the west side of the Cascades draining to Puget Sound aren't doing quite as well, ranging from 65-80% snow pack right now. Most Oregon river basins look to have the biggest snow pack deficits, lots are in the 60-70% of normal range.
The USDA's National Resource Conservation Service in Portland posts updates for snowpack and precipitation conditions by state (and river basin) at:

Washington:
ftp://ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/data/snow/update/wa.txt
Oregon:
ftp://ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/data/snow/update/or.txt
Idaho:
ftp://ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/data/snow/update/id.txt

Good news for all ... most of all the fisheys, especially those little ones that will need the cooler water to make it through the summer months.

I think I've had enough of the April downpours though ... maybe hold them off until early May now until we go north