Winter seemed wet. The state snow and climate data is not completely discouraging, for once. Above average in places. Below average in others.

We’re still thirsty. It’ll be another spring and summer of watching the temperature, watching the reservoirs.

Researchers at Oregon State University have given us a new tool for evaluating our water bank, the snowpack. It basically aims to do better than just capture the information for a point in time. It looks at snowpack and how well it functions as a reservoir over time. You can read the paper here: tinyurl.com/OSUsnowpack.

The data says snowpack has generally declined across the country over the past decade. Temperature changes bring more rain instead of snow.

Their model is not about predicting the future of snowpack or of water. But we can suggest what you might want to do: Get serious about watching how you use water. If it snows again before we exit April, celebrate it.