Drought Information and Resources

In the past several years, Washington State has experienced various drought conditions resulting from insufficient water to meet the needs of our state's water users. Drought conditions can result from lack of precipitation, soil moisture anomalies, changes in precipitation patterns, and high temperatures that cause our winter precipitation to fall as rain rather than snow. In 2015, a major driver of the drought was the abnormally low snowpack across the state. Reduced snowpack resulted in less runoff to feed our rivers and lakes, causing hardship to many water users throughout the state, including agricultural producers.

Visit the state Department of Ecology at www.ecy.wa.gov/drought for detailed information on developing drought conditions in our state.

WSDA does not have any independent funding for drought relief, but will share information regarding agricultural-related problems and concerns with decision makers. WSDA also assists in coordinating federal funding under a federal drought declaration by connecting federal drought relief authorities with farmers and ranchers in need of assistance. WSDA can also help those in need of assistance find possible resources for relief.

Governor Jay Inslee has the authority to declare a region or the entire state as a drought emergency area when the state designated drought criteria are met. For details on current drought declarations, please visit http://ecology.wa.gov/Water-Shorelines/Water-supply/Water-availability/Statewide-conditions

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will declare individual counties as primary natural disaster areas when the federal drought criteria are met. The current status of federally declared drought areas can be found by visiting Farm Service Agency emergency designations webpage. A federal drought designation makes certain federal assistance programs available to farmers and ranchers in the drought affected areas. For more information on those programs, see below.

The state can declare a drought emergency in a region if it meets two criteria:

1. The region is receiving, or is projected to receive, less than 75% of its normal water supply
2. Water users in the region will likely incur undue hardships as a result of the shortage

The USDA declares a drought emergency based on several factors, including:

• Measurements of rain, snow and other events
• Reports of how conditions are affecting crops, wildlife, other indicators
• Recommendations from water experts

Once drought is declared Ecology can issue emergency water permits, authorize temporary transfers of water rights, and provide drought relief in the form of loans and grants for uses such as:

• Leasing water rights for stream flow
• Drilling emergency wells or deepening wells for cities, farms, and fish hatcheries
• Construction of pumps, pipelines and measuring devices that provide immediate drought relief
• Development of emergency or alternative water sources

For additional information about projects and activities that can be funded with drought relief money, please visit http://ecology.wa.gov/About-us/How-we-operate/Grants-loans/Find-a-grant-or-loan/Drought-emergency-grants-2019. Generally, these funds are not available to assist growers with crop or livestock losses.

A federal drought designation is automatic for any county when D2 (severe drought) conditions exist for eight weeks in a row. Any county that has any area experiencing D3 (Extreme Drought) conditions or worse at any time during the growing season also would be designated as a disaster area.

If conditions cause a single crop or group of crops to suffer a loss of 30% or more, this can also trigger a federal drought designation. The crop loss must be documented and reported to your local USDA service center location for this to take place.

For complete information on drought conditions in Washington and around the country, visit the drought map. 

• loans to recover from production losses and physical losses,
• support for producers who can't make scheduled payments on existing loans,
• help for livestock producers experiencing drought-related livestock or forage losses,
• assistance restoring damaged farmland and forest, and
• recovery from crop losses including low yields, prevented plantings, and replacing or rehabilitating damaged trees. 

• Soil conditions - The NOAA National Weather Service
  Soil Moisture Monitor
• Snowpack - The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) SNOTEL Current Snow Water Equivalent data supply assessment & map
  [PDF 688 kB]
• River conditions - NOAA Northwest River Forecast Center 
  Water Supply Forecasts
• Washington State Offices of the USDA Farm Services Agency