Facing dry wells, water restrictions and risks to fish hatcheries and salmon migration, state officials declared a drought emergency Monday for watersheds spanning a dozen Washington counties.
The declaration stems from a warm and dry trend and is expected to continue through summer, possibly into next year. These types of emergency drought declarations are happening more often in recent years, state officials said, especially as global and regional temperatures continue to rise.
Portions of Benton, Clallam, Columbia, Jefferson, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, Skagit, Snohomish, Walla Walla, Whatcom and Yakima counties are in a drought emergency, Washington's Department of Ecology said in a news release. The rest of the state is considered to be under a drought advisory.
A swath of Klickitat County faces evacuations after a wildfire that started Friday spread over the weekend to 52,000 acres, threatening farms, homes, solar and wind energy farms, and a natural gas pipeline.
"This drought is already harming Washington communities, businesses and farms, and it's another sign of the damage that climate change is causing to our state," Ecology director Laura Watson said in the news release.
The emergency declaration allows state officials to further cut water use and unlocks $3 million that can be granted out to communities, irrigation districts, tribes and others hurt by the drought, said Jeff Marti, drought coordinator for Washington's Water Resources Program.
Most waterways in the state are expected to see less than three-quarters of their typical water flows, and the warm, dry weather is expected to continue. El Niño conditions are anticipated to bring warm, tropical air into the Northwest during winter, potentially prolonging the trend and cutting into the state's snowpack.
"Climate change is making warm, dry summers more frequent, and droughts more severe," Ria Berns, who manages Ecology's Water Resources Program, said in the release.
Of Washington's 62 watersheds, 12 are included in this emergency drought declaration, Ecology spokesperson Jimmy Norris said. Some of those watersheds include:
This year's drought isn't as bad as others over the past decade, Marti said, but the emergency declarations are becoming more common.
State officials declared a statewide drought emergency in 2021, which extended into spring of last year, Marti said. They also declared an emergency drought in 27 different watersheds in 2019 and made another statewide declaration in 2015.
The 2015 drought was the most traumatic, brought on by warm temperatures, poor snowpack and then a dry spring, Marti said. As local and global temperatures continue to rise, similar conditions appear more likely to repeat.
"It's the 2015 drought that we look to as sort of the movie trailer for what's to come," Marti said. "That's the flavor of drought that's likely to become the norm in the future."
Not only can drought conditions mean water shortages for people, crops and livestock, but they can also exacerbate wildfire risk. Already state officials warned that the Pacific Northwest's wildfire season this year could be among the worst in the country. And firefighters worked through the weekend to combat the grass fire in Klickitat County.
Dave Robertson, a spokesperson for Northwest Incident Management Team 8, said in a video update Monday morning that the nearly 52,000-acre wildfire had gone cold in certain areas but was still at risk of spreading in others. In particular, Robertson noted that high winds expected through Monday could feed the flames.
Monday afternoon, Klickitat County's Emergency Management Team extended evacuation preparation orders for areas in the northeast portion of the county. People east of Matsen to east of Alder Creek and south to Hale should be prepared to evacuate. People west of Sand Ridge to the county line and south to Hale should also get ready to evacuate.
