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Washington has had four consecutive months with much below normal precipitation, resulting in the fifth driest November-February in the 110-year record. This short-term dryness (1-month SPI, 3-month SPI, 6-month SPI) compounds dryness that has been occurring over the last six to seven years (36 months, 60 months). As reported by the National Weather Service, Spokane had the driest February since records began in 1881 with only 0.04 inch of precipitation.
An analysis by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (Tom Pagano) identified several snow course and SNOTEL high altitude stations that had March 1 snow water equivalent observations that tied or beat previous nearly 60-year dry records:
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Stampede Pass, WA (2005: 5.1", prev record: 11.1", prev record year: 1977,
total # yrs: 58)
Olallie Meadows, WA (7.1", 18.2", 1977, 59)
Sites that were snow free for the first time in March and have been around for more than 15 years:
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Ragged Ridge, WA (prev record: 2.6", prev record year: 1982,
total # yrs: 19 yr)
Twin Camp, WA (0.3", 1977, 43 yr)
Lynn Lake, WA (0.3", 1977, 42 yr)
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NCDC /
Clim. Monitoring /
Climate-2005 /
Feb /
U.S. Regional Drought /
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