My hiking friends and I have been wondering of late where Winter has gone. We head to the mountains where, yes, a bit of white stuff still covers the very high peaks, but what we encounter on the lower-elevation approach trails is either bare ground, or patchy ice.
It seems like it's been weeks and weeks since we had our last significant high country snowfall. Winter white that came down in November and early December is gone, or fading fast. Creeks are melting in the valleys, and, on a six-thousand-foot summit we visited last week, only a couple of inches of crusty, icy snow lingered.
This low snow year is not good news for the farmers in Central and Eastern Washington who depend on Spring runoff to fill rivers and reservoirs, precious water that will be used for irrigation of crops.
It's still early February, of course, and there is certainly a chance the Pacific Northwest will get more mountain snow. Let's hope so, because without it, we're in for a dry summer.
