Mapping Snow Drought in the Pacific Northwest

During the winter of 2025-26, unusual warmth meant a larger share of precipitation fell as rain instead of snow across much of the West, while below-normal precipitation deepened deficits in some areas. January, February, and March each had the lowest Western snow cover for that month in the NASA MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite record since 2001.

On the Cowlitz, those conditions produced a season of extremes. In December 2025, a powerful atmospheric river brought a long, narrow band of Pacific moisture into the region, causing intense rainfall and flooding. Across the season, that rain-heavy pattern sent water downstream quickly instead of building mountain snowpack that would melt and release water steadily into summer. Snowpack remained at just 20% to 50% of normal levels.

As winter became spring, the rain tapered off, and on April 8, Washington state placed every watershed, including the Cowlitz, under a drought emergency.