The drought continues despite a wet April

IDAHO (KIFI) - The Idaho Water supply committee met on Thursday morning. They discussed how much the wet April has helped the water outlook for the state.

April has certainly helped. There is no denying that. April has given all of the Eastern Idaho basins above average precipitation.

The cooler temperatures have also played a massive role. In April, most of Eastern Idaho had temperatures that were 4 to 7 degrees colder than average. This has helped to slow the progress of the snowmelt and provide more snow water equivalent.

The decreased snowmelt has however not been able to help out the reservoirs. Most reservoir levels are only 50 to 75% full of normal capacity. With the snowmelt progress slowed down, it is at least predicted that we will have an average snow melt instead of a below snowmelt. Unfortunately, we need an above average runoff to have any chance at reaching normal water supply.

The future weather conditions don't appear to help. Although we are predicted for more cooler and wetter conditions next week, the outlook for the next couple of months shows dry and warmer weather coming.