Lingering drought seen in region’s low lakes, waterways

Sandy Sherrill has her own drought monitor, visible whenever she opens her blinds and looks out over Liberty Lake.

In 25 years as lakeshore residents, Sherrill and her husband, Ralph, have never seen the water levels so low.

This time of year, the lake should be lapping near the bottom of the stairs that lead from the couple’s house to the water. Instead, there’s about 15 feet of exposed sandy shoreline.

“We have about twice as much beach as usual,” Sandy Sherrill said.

Despite recent rains, the Inland Northwest remains in the grip of a record-setting drought, with stream flows and lake levels far below normal. The deficit comes amid uncertainty about how one of the strongest El Niños since 1950 will affect the region’s winter snowpack.

“Half of the state is still in extreme drought … and that includes most of Eastern Washington,” said Dan Partridge, communications director for the Department of Ecology’s water resources program.

The year that set records for poor snowpack, blistering heat in early summer and an exceptionally warm October is continuing with a streak of tough water conditions:

• Liberty Lake set a troubling record on Oct. 29 when the water dropped to its second-lowest level in 64 years, said BiJay Adams, manager of the Liberty Lake Water and Sewer District.
• Flows in the Coeur d’Alene River have been among the lowest in the past 80 years. At Cataldo on Sunday, river flows were about half of what they typically are this time of year. The St. Joe River was running about 40 percent of normal at Calder, Idaho. The two rivers are the major tributaries to Lake Coeur d’Alene, whose water levels remained so low this fall that Avista Utilities delayed the start of the lake’s annual drawdown by more than a month. The last time that happened was during the 2004-05 drought, said Steve Esch, a senior operations engineer for Avista.
• Flows in the Spokane River are closer to normal because of the recent drafting of Lake Coeur d’Alene, which sends more water through the Post Falls Dam. But other streams and rivers around the region are experiencing, or have experienced, record-low or near record-low flows this fall, including the Kootenai, Sanpoil, Pack and Little Spokane rivers.

“We’re still in this period of dramatically low flow. It’s going to get really desperate next year if we see the same pattern,” said Jerry White Jr., the Spokane Riverkeeper, who heads up a nonprofit focused on the watershed.

There’s both good and bad news in the upcoming winter weather forecasts, according to Karin Bumbaco, Washington’s assistant state climatologist.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center is calling for higher-than-normal temperatures for the region over the next three months, with below-normal precipitation as a result of El Niño conditions.

“That’s not saying it will be as bad as last year,” Bumbaco said.

In fact, it would be difficult to replicate 2015’s extreme conditions, when most of the Northwest’s winter precipitation fell as rain and the mountain snow that did accumulate melted early, she said.

The current forecast calls for a Washington snowpack that’s about 80 percent of normal. However, “that’s still bad news for the drought persisting into next year,” Bumbaco said.

For Inland Northwest residents, there’s another twist to the winter’s forecast, said Jeff Marti, the Department of Ecology’s drought coordinator. El Niño years can be variable, with some delivering unexpected storms, but weather forecasters say the predicted warmer temperatures and below-normal precipitation are most likely to occur in Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Western Montana.

“There’s greater confidence that those areas will be drier than normal,” Marti said.

Effects from 2015’s poor snowpack and runoff are likely to be felt for years to come.

“Last summer was probably the toughest summer on our native trout in recorded history,” said Pat Way, the owner of Orvis Northwest Outfitters in Coeur d’Alene.

Fishing was restricted in some Washington streams to avoid putting additional stress on trout struggling to survive in water temperatures approaching 70 degrees. Way said many of his customers voluntarily stopped fly-fishing in North Idaho streams for the same reasons.

In Liberty Lake, the scanty snowpack affected water quality and reduced the lake’s recharge of groundwater, said Adams, the water and sewer district manager.

The 706-acre lake is fed by snowpack from Mica Peak and a nearby peak in Kootenai County with the same name. This year, Liberty Lake didn’t get the annual “flushing” that occurs when snowmelt brings fresh water into the lake, Adams said.

By summer, Liberty Lake was experiencing blue-green algae blooms. The blooms didn’t produce the toxins that led to health advisories for Hayden and Fernan lakes, but the water was gunky from the algae growth.

The Sherrills, who live near a county park, noticed a drop-off in the number of swimmers using the lake, and Sandy Sherrill, who takes an occasional dip in the lake, didn’t get into the water either.

In the short term, the couple are enjoying the novelty of having a sandy beach emerge in front of their house, she said. But they’re also eager for a return to more normal weather conditions.

“We need the snow in the mountains, and the lake needs some water,” she said.