Record low snowpack in Southeast, warm summer ahead

It’s been a record low year for snowpack in Southeast Alaska, but the peaks in Juneau were recently dusted with powder. Last weekend, EagleCrest Ski Area received 20 inches of precipitation at its highest elevation, and about 6 inches at the base. Senior Hydrologist Aaron Jacobs says overall, our winter has been mild and wet.

The FY 2016 capital budget includes $3 million for treatment of water from Juneau's Salmon Creek Reservoir. It will allow the reservoir to be a drinking-water source year-round. Turbidity shuts it down part of the year.
Photo by Casey Kelly/KTOO

“You put those two things together, you get a lot of liquid precipitation but not much of the frozen stuff,” he says.

Jacobs works for the Juneau office of the National Weather Service. He says it’s common to see these conditions at sea level. But this year it extended up into the higher elevations. This could mean less mountain runoff for smaller streams in Juneau, like Jordan and Montana creeks.

“If we don’t have that snowpack, those waters are going to start to get very low. When fish come into the water systems, it could really warm the water temperatures and that’s not conducive for the fish. The fish don’t like the water too warm,” says Jacobs.

The lack of moisture could also lead to forest fires as temperatures heat up this spring. Last year, Southeast saw similar weather patterns. But heavy rains in the summer months offset some of the negative impacts. Although there’s been snow recently, Jacobs says it may be too little, too late.

“Up in the higher elevation there’s been some significant snowfall, but nothing that will make up all the lost ground that we’ve had,” he says.

The climate predicted for the summer months calls for a 70 percent chance of above normal temperatures.

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