Warm, wet weather has Washington snowpack at 50 percent

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — A warm, rainy start to winter has the snowpack in Washington at only 50 percent of normal for this time of year.

A water supply specialist with the Washington Snow Survey Office, Scott Pattee in Mount Vernon, says there has been plenty of rain in the first three months of the water year.

But it hasn't been cold enough, long enough at higher elevations to build the snowpack needed to supply runoff for fish, irrigation and people through the summer.

It's still early, but there may be cause for concern about the snowpack.

Pattee says the forecast for the next several months calls for above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation.