Drought in East Idaho has mostly come to an end
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Drought conditions across Eastern Idaho are officially over. We have a very tiny section of the Upper Snake River on the border by western Wyoming that is still under a slight drought, but that is predicted to be removed very soon.
A historic snowpack has helped us to get out of the drought. Many places across Eastern Idaho and southern Idaho are seeing record breaking snowpack.
Heading into this winter, the majority was under severe and exceptional drought. This came after low reservoir levels and a dry winter last year. Overall, southern Idaho had been under drought conditions for the past two years and Eastern Idaho has been under drought since 2020.
This was the 7th coldest winter on record since records were first reported in 1939.
The snowfall was perhaps more impressive. In particular, this was the 4th snowiest winter on record for Pocatello. The Portneuf and Blackfoot basins are near their record amount of snowpack. The Bear River Range broke their snowpack record.
A wet spring is needed to continue to remain out of drought or else experts suggest we could get back into drought.
Most worries for experts are now focused on flooding with all the historic snowpack that we do have. We need a snow warm up with few amounts of precipitation for it to slowly melt. Heavy rain showers and extreme long warming trends could make the flooding worse.
