The Olympic Mountains’ snowpack was 137 percent of normal Thursday after a series of January storms blasted the region, a water supply expert said.
Hurricane Ridge had 76 inches — or 6 feet, 4 inches — of snow on the ground Thursday, Olympic National Park officials said.
The basin-wide snowpack index, which measures the water content in the snow, was more robust than any other region in the state.
“Those storms just blasted in there and really saturated that area,” said Scott Pattee, a water supply specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Mount Vernon.
“Definitely a good start over there.”
Snowpack is compared to a 30-year average at three remote sensors in the Olympic Mountains.
As of Thursday, snowpack was 145 percent of normal at the 5,010-foot snow telemetry (SNOTEL) site at Waterhole near Hurricane Ridge.
“That Waterhole site … is really carrying the weight,” Pattee said in a telephone interview.
Snowpack was 98 percent of normal at the 4,010-foot upper Dungeness SNOTEL site.
The 3,960-foot Mount Crag site in East Jefferson County was offline because its only receiver in Boise, Idaho, was down.
“It’s sitting there collecting data, we’re pretty sure, but it just can’t transmit it,” Pattee said.
“We’re hoping to get a helicopter contract put together, because it’s a helicopter-only accessible site.”
The 4,870-foot Buckinghorse site in the upper Elwha River drainage is too new to be used in the 30-year average. Buckinghorse had the equivalent of 40.6 inches of water in the snow Thursday.
Absent a rapid melt, Pattee said the current snowpack should provide an adequate water supply for utility customers, irrigators and fish in the summer.
The Climate Prediction Center published a three-month outlook Thursday that predicted below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation for Western Washington, Pattee said.
April 1 is considered a benchmark date for annual snowpack because it falls near the peak of the season.
Last year, the Olympics had a 110 percent snowpack on April 1.
Hurricane Ridge Road is scheduled to be open Friday though Sunday and holiday Mondays, when the weather permits, though March 28.
All vehicles traveling to the ridge in the winter are required to carry chains.
For Hurricane Ridge Road conditions, call the Olympic National Park hotline at 360-565-3131 or visit www.nps.gov/olym.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@ peninsuladailynews.com.
