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Snowy Winter Brings Record Snowpack

Snowpack around the state is above average this year. Tony Bergantino, a climatologist with the Wyoming State Climate Office, says it’s the highest snowpack on record in five of Wyoming's basins. 

“They’re all above normal, and up in the upper northwest and southwest and in the central part of the state, they’re at the lowest,” se says. “And that’s still about 114-115 percent of normal.”

Bergantino says the snowy winter has brought most of the state out of drought conditions.  

“There is a very small portion of southwestern Wyoming - the very western part of Uinta County - that is still in what we call D-1. The southwestern portion of the state – mostly Sweetwater County, part of Uinta County – is in D-0, which is just abnormally dry. D-1 is considered moderate drought,” he says. “But the rest of the state is not in any drought condition at this moment.”

Bergantino says spring weather will determine whether the snow melt will cause flooding. He says when temperatures rise quickly, the possibility of flooding increases but if the melting is gradual, there shouldn’t be problems.

Irina Zhorov is a reporter for Wyoming Public Radio. She earned her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from the University of Wyoming. In between, she worked as a photographer and writer for Philadelphia-area and national publications. Her professional interests revolve around environmental and energy reporting and she's reported on mining issues from Wyoming, Mexico, and Bolivia. She's been supported by the Dick and Lynn Cheney Grant for International Study, the Eleanor K. Kambouris Grant, and the Social Justice Research Center Research Grant for her work on Bolivian mining and Uzbek alpinism. Her work has appeared on Voice of America, National Native News, and in Indian Country Today, among other publications.
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