Drought Information Statement for Eastern Washington & North Idaho Valid October 01, 2025 Issued By: NWS Spokane, WA Contact Information: w-otx.webmaster@noaa.gov This will be updated when drought conditions change significantly. Please see all currently available products at https://drought.gov/drought-information-statements. Please visit https://www.weather.gov/otx/DroughtInformationStatement for previous statements. Please visit https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates for regional drought status updates. STATE OF WASHINGTON DROUGHT EMERGENCY FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL WASHINGTON (see link) Drought persists and has expanded across the Inland Northwest Extreme drought persisted and Exceptional drought expanded in ID Panhandle Severe drought expanded in eastern WA and ID Panhandle Updated 1 U.S. Drought Monitor U.S. Drought Monitor for eastern Washington and north Idaho Drought intensity and Extent for the Inland NW D4 (Exceptional Drought): Southern Idaho Panhandle ~0.5% D3 (Extreme Drought): Southern Idaho Panhandle, North WA Cascades ~12% D2 (Severe Drought): The northern Cascades through the northwest Oregon coast, north-central Washington and Washington Palouse ~36% D1 (Moderate Drought): The Olympic Washington coast, most of eastern Washington and far northern Idaho Panhandle ~32% D0: (Abnormally Dry): Southern Washington, Washington/Oregon Columbia Gorge ~ 16% NONE: ~4% Updated Geography Availability: United States WFO: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/png/current/current_wfoabq_text.png Where it says “wfoabq” change the last 3 letters to the desired CWA in terms of “wfoxxx” (excluding SJU, PPG, or GUM, only regional data available) State: Replace where it says “wfoabq” change to the state’s abbreviation Regional: Replace where it says “wfoabq” change to either of the following… Caribbean → current_caribbean_text Pacific Islands→current_usapi_text Ex; southeast → current_southeast_text Ex; midwest → current_midwest_text Ex; high plains → current_high_planes_text Ex; south → current_south_text pdf National (including HI, AK, and PR): https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/png/20220823/20220823_usdm.png USAPI and Virgin Islands: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/data/png/20220823/20220823_usdm_pg2.png Recent Change in Drought Intensity 1 week change map for eastern Washington and north Idaho One Week Drought Monitor Class Change No Change: much of WA and north Idaho Moderate drought → Severe drought: Portions of far northern Idaho Panhandle Severe drought → Extreme drought: Expansion of extreme drought across eastern Washington Extreme drought → Exceptional drought: Expansion across the central Idaho Panhandle/Idaho Palouse updated Last 30 Days Precipitation Precipitation over the last 30 days has been below normal for most of the region, except in the Camas Prairie where it has been above normal. The accumulations have been below half an inch in total for most low elevation areas. updated If longer-term drought is dominating in your region, you can use longer-timescale imagery to support that message. All data can be found at https://hprcc.unl.edu/maps.php?maps=ACISClimateMaps If you prefer a higher resolution precip source such as AHPS (https://water.weather.gov/precip/), that’s also okay but will have to be added manually each time. If little to no imagery is available for your area (i.e. USAPI) you may consider a data table. Some USAPI precipitation imagery available here:https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/drought/202303#regional-usapi and here: https://niwa.co.nz/climate/island-climate-update Pacific Island Climate Update for ENSO: Monthly Reports, find the PDF on this site: https://niwa.co.nz/climate/island-climate-update and consider linking to it here if it’s not too out of date MSWEP: https://www.gloh2o.org/mswep/ may be another option. Other options: Precipitation Station Data from USGS: Stations in each State: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/al/nwis/current/?type=precip&group_key=NONE To change state, alter link where it says “/al/” and change to desired state’s abbreviation. Homepage: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis Precipitation Reports for Basins from WCC Availability: SNOTEL and COOP stations for each state in the west including Alaska. State: https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/SummaryReports/AZ/BPrecip_8_2022.pdf Where it says “AZ” change to desired state abbreviation to other states such as AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. Replace where it says “Precip_8_2022” and change the “8” to the desired month of year and “2022” to the year wanted. Homepage: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/snowClimateMonitoring/snowpack/basinDataReports/ Last 7 Days and 30 Days Temperature Temperatures the last week have been above normal region-wide. Over the last 30 days, temperatures have been much above normal. Updated Summary of Impacts Links: See/submit Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) and view the Drought Impacts Reporter Hydrologic Impacts Water supply outlook remains below normal. (NWS NWRFC) Stream flows remain much below to below normal across the region as the Summer convective season comes to an end. (NWS NWRFC) Agricultural Impacts Soil moisture is moderately to severely dry and harvesting is earlier than normal across Washington. Crop conditions are very poor to fair (67%). USDA Crop Progress Reports Fire Hazard Impacts Fuel conditions remain below normal (dry) at this time. The significant wildland fire potential now highlights near normal risk for the Inland Northwest through November. (NIFC) Other Impacts Washington State Declared Drought Emergency for Chelan, Okanogan, and portions of Ferry County in June. Mitigation Actions Please refer to your local municipality and/or water provider for mitigation information. Updated Hydrologic Conditions and Impacts Streamflows over the past 7 days have been below normal across the Okanogan Valley and Highlands and the Palouse. Parts of north-central Washington and the Idaho Panhandle remain much below normal. Areas of east-central and southeast Washington are seeing near normal conditions. Image Caption: USGS 7 day average streamflow HUC map valid April 29, 2025 Image Caption: USGS 7 day average streamflow HUC map valid September 30, 2025 updated Agricultural Conditions and Impacts Soil moisture remains drier than normal across much of the Inland NW, especially over the Cascades, eastern Washington, and the Idaho Panhandle. Winter Wheat harvesting in Idaho is almost 90% complete (ahead of 2024 rates) and in Washington is just over 90% complete, tracking near the 2024 timeline compared to this time last year. Pasture and Rangeland conditions in Washington were Very Poor to Poor (40-50%) and Very Poor to Fair (77%) in Idaho at the end of September. updated Fire Hazard Impacts The significant wildland fire potential has been updated to show normal fire potential in the October and November outlooks. September was warm and dry, and saw a lot of lightning-driven weather events. Link to Wildfire Potential Outlooks from the National Interagency Coordination Center. updated Seven Day Precipitation Forecast Widespread light precipitation (less than 0.10 inch) across the Inland Northwest. Some areas in the Cascades and the Idaho Panhandle will see up to a 0.25 inch of precipitation in the next week. Updated Rapid Onset Drought Risk The latest 8-14 Day Hazard Outlook can be found on the CPC homepage Hazards for the coming 2-week period: Rapid Onset Drought (ROD) possible for parts of Texas and Louisiana. Updated 8-14 Day Outlook The latest near-term outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage The near-term outlook favors near-normal temperatures and a 30-40% chance of above normal precipitation across central/eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Updated Seasonal Outlook The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage October, November, December: Outlook favors near normal temperatures (no signal one way or another) for the Inland Northwest. The precipitation outlook across much of the Inland NW favors above normal chances (40-60%) for precipitation. Updated Drought Outlook The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage The Seasonal Drought Outlook shows where drought conditions will change over the next 1 and 3 months. Much of the drought across the Inland Northwest will improve or end. Drought in southern Idaho will persist. updated