Welcome to summer!
Welcome to summer! ANGELO D'AMICO/GETTY IMAGES

Summer hasn't even arrived yet and much of Washington is already in a state of drought.

On Monday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that he is expanding a declaration of drought emergency to cover nearly half the state thanks to low rainfall and lower than average snowpack, which, despite record snowfall in the western part of the state last winter, is currently at less than half the average for this time of year across much of the region.

Gov. Inslee's pronouncement adds 34 watersheds to the emergency drought status, including Chelan, Colville, Cowlitz, Deschutes, Elwha-Dungeness, Entiat, Grays-Elochoman, Kennedy-Goldsborough, Kettle, Lower Chehalis, Lower Skagit-Samish, Lower Yakima, Lyre-Hoko, Naches, Nooksack, Queets-Quinault, Quilcene-Snow, Skokomish-Dosewallips, Soleduc, Stillaguamish, Upper Chehalis, Upper Skagit, Wenatchee, and Willapa. They join the Methow, Okanogan, and Upper Yakima basins, which were declared drought emergencies in early April.

Things are looking better (wetter) in the western part of the state, and the governor's office says that Seattle, Everett, and Tacoma water supplies should be sufficient throughout the summer. That said, drought conditions in the east can lead to an increase in wildfires, and wildfire smoke, unfortunately, does not pay attention to county borders.

The last time the state declared a drought emergency was in 2015, and the losses to the agriculture industry alone were over $1 billion. In his statement, Gov. Inslee said, "This shortage creates a strong possibility of undue hardship for water users, including agricultural irrigators, as well as municipal and community public drinking water systems. Reduced stream flows in these watersheds could cause deleterious effects on fisheries. I encourage the Department of Ecology to coordinate with other state agencies, federal agencies, tribes, and water users to help protect our important human, economic, and natural resources." (He didn’t say this but I’m going to add, if you water your lawn in the heart of summer, your grass might look green, but you, personally, look like an asshole.)

Gov. Inslee is running for President on what is essentially a single issue campaign: combating climate change, which is one of the major causes of drought in both Washington and everywhere else. The Pacific Northwest is expected to warm between three and 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. And when temperatures increase, drought often follows.