Priest Lake impacted by drought conditions

By KEITH KINNAIRD

News editor

SANDPOINT — Severe drought conditions in North Idaho are expected to prevent the summer pool elevation of Priest Lake from being maintained through the end of the recreation season.

“There just isn’t the inflow coming into the lake that there normally is due to this drought,” said Keith Franklin, the Idaho Department of Water Resource’s Panhandle program manager in Coeur d’Alene.

The lake’s summer pool is 2,437 feet above sea level, or 3 feet as measured by a U.S. Geological Survey gauge at Outlet Bay. On Tuesday, the lake’s level was measured at 2.93 feet.

“It’s almost at summer pool, but it’s probably going to continue to drop,” said Franklin.

As a result, IDWR is advising waterfront landowners on Priest Lake to keep close tabs on the level at the USGS website to determine when to pull their vessels from the water. Up-to-date information about the lake’s elevation can be found at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/id/nwis/current/?type=flow.

“We just wanted to get the word to people so that they wouldn’t be caught by surprise, so that they can make decisions in regards to their watercraft,” Franklin said.

The department is not making recommendations on when or at what elevation boaters should pull their boats because it depends on where the boat is located on the lake and what size a particular vessel is.

The culprit in the drought is largely the below-average snowpack that accumulated in the Panhandle last winter, according to Franklin. An unusually dry and warm spring and summer didn’t help matters.

Precipitation in the Panhandle was substantially below normal for the month of April, resulting in 58 percent of the monthly average, according to the National Resources Conservation Service’s water supply outlook report in May.

An eight-station index revealed that the May 1 snowpack was the lower since the indexing began in 1982, the NRCS report said.

“All of northern Idaho is in a severe drought,” said Franklin, noting that watersheds in the region are currently about one-fourth or less than what they should be for this time of year.

Franklin said precipitation could help keep the lake up, but the current long-range forecast is calling for continued hot and dry weather.

• Those with questions about the IDPR advisory can contact Franklin or Gio Del Papa at (208) 762-2800.