Drought likely will strike portions of Eastern Washington, a state Department of Ecology official said Friday, catching the state for the second straight year without money for relief projects.

The state’s snowpack started strong, but was down to 80% of normal on Friday. Some basins, particularly in southeast Washington, probably will have summer water supplies below 75% of normal, the threshold for a drought declaration, Ecology drought coordinator Jeff Marti said.

Ecology has no money for drought-relief grants, he said. Lawmakers didn’t fund Ecology’s request to establish a permanent account that could be drawn upon in an emergency.

Moses Lake Sen. Judy Warnick, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate agriculture committee, sponsored the bill to set up a $3 million account. The bill passed the Senate unanimously, but was not voted on in the House.

“That was extremely disappointing,” Warnick said Friday. “I’m going to try again next year.”

April 1 is the traditional date for sizing up the winter’s snowpack. At 80% of normal, the snowpack is the 10th smallest in the past 33 years. It’s much healthier than the 21% of normal in 2015, the year of the “snowpack drought.”

The snowpack was 95% of normal on March 1. Natural Resources Conservation Service water supply specialist Scott Pattee said the snowpack has probably peaked and there is little chance for a rally.

More likely, he said, it will run off early, which is especially concerning for irrigators in basins without reservoirs.

Above-average temperatures have ripened the snowpack to melt and only a cold snap can hold it back now, Pattee said. “We’ve got that train rolling,” he said.

Yakima River Basin reservoirs held 132% of their normal volume of water on Friday. The Bureau of Reclamation in early March forecast full or nearly full water allotments for junior water-right holders in the basin. The bureau will update the forecast in early April.

Last year, a dry spring drove much of Eastern Washington into a drought. Ecology had $700,000 for three state agencies, but no drought-relief funds for irrigation districts or cities.

Warnick sponsored the drought-preparedness bill to avoid getting off-guard again. Farm groups supported the bill, as did Ecology and the state Department of Agriculture.

Washington Farm Bureau director of government relations Tom Davis said the bill got bipartisan support in the Senate before stalling in the House. “To me, it’s a short-sighted response to a critical problem for our state,” he said.

In 2015, the Legislature gave Ecology money for drought relief, but the money wasn’t available until July. Ecology then had to write rules for awarding grants.

Eventually, the department funded 15 projects. Some of the projects helped irrigation districts install pumps and pipes and take other emergency measures to conserve or move water.

In a post-drought report, Ecology said the late start made the drought-relief effort less effective.

Washington’s snowpack was 100% of normal on Feb. 1. That month at a House committee hearing Ecology water resources manager Dave Christensen warned the snowpack was declining.