Post-Christmas storms have returned the Upper Snake River Basin snowpack in eastern Idaho to its seasonal norms.

“We were quite a bit below average into the first couple of weeks of December,” Tony Olenichak, Idaho Falls-based watermaster for Water District 1, said Dec. 28. “Then, in the last couple of weeks, we made up a lot of ground and got back to where we should be.”

“We want to continue this trend from now until the end of snow accumulation season, about the first of April,” he said.

The amount of water carried over in reservoirs after the hot, dry 2021 irrigation season was much lower than usual, Olenichak said.

“So, in order to refill all that empty reservoir space, we need at least average or above-average snowpack, accompanied by a wet spring,” he said.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Dec. 28 reported eastern Idaho snow-water equivalents included 101% of normal for Henry’s Fork-Teton, 99% above Palisades Reservoir, 100% for Willow-Blackfoot-Portneuf and 102% for Bear River.

Snowpack was above normal in the state’s northern and central regions. It was below normal in Bruneau, Salmon Falls and Goose basins on the southern border.