Can Washington state recover from its 'abysmally low' mountain snowpack?

There is still a chance for snow to come to Washington's mountains this season, but don't expect the region's dismal snowpack to miraculously recover.

"That would be great if we could recover a little bit, but we have a lot of ground to catch up on ... at this point, we'll take anything we can get," National Weather Service Meteorologist Maddie Kristell told Seattle Now.

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Washington state's mountain snowpack levels are considerably low.

"Right now, what we're seeing across the a lot of the Cascade basins is our snow-water equivalent levels are 40%, even 30% of average," Kristell said. "So, these are really low."

RELATED: Warm winter liquidates nearly half of Washington state snowpack

"People are generally thinking about water supply and fire weather going forward," Kristell said. "With how abysmally low our snowpack is right now, that is certainly not a good indication for what fire season might bring ... We're starting off on the wrong foot. We want snow in the mountains to keep the fuels nice and moist for a longer period of time and we just do not have that right now."

Melting snowpack also feeds rivers and streams through summer, which fish rely on. The region's utilities use this water for power generation and water supplies for communities throughout the state. Agriculture needs water for irrigation during the drier months. It's these aspects of Washington life that will be impacted by low snowpack in the summer months ahead.

Warm and (relatively) dry Washington

The news may come as a surprise after December's historic flooding that caused communities to evacuate and farms to suffer extensive damage that farmers are still recovering from. But as the Washington State Department of Ecology puts it: "There is no substitute for snow."

Instead of landing as mountain snow, that water flowed downstream. The region's reservoirs were forced to open, allowing most of that water flow through to Puget Sound instead of saving it, Kristell said.

That also means that despite the floods, parts of Washington remain in a drought emergency.

The region has experienced La Niña weather patterns more often in recent years. That was the forecast for winter 2025-26. La Niñas generally bring cooler and wetter weather. But that hasn't been the case for the past few months. In fact, the previous summer and spring were also relatively dry.

The state received a decent amount of rain in December; however, that month went down as the warmest December on record in Washington state (following the warmest fall on record in the Northwest).

This means less snow for Washington's mountains. Only the highest elevations have been blanketed, while lower elevations have been more likely to get rain. Skiers and snowboarders have been well aware of this.

RELATED: Is Stevens Pass closed because of a lack of snow or just to avoid refunds?