These are important words this year. If you love to ski, you know there is hardly enough snow in the mountains this season. If you drive over the pass frequently, you probably haven’t been stuck in snow. If you live on Clover Creek, you know it was a dry ditch from May to December.

For the third year in a row, the Pacific Northwest has had far less than normal rainfall. In 2025, we were 54% of normal. Less than 70% is a drought year. Although we got hit by massive flooding in December, that was warm rain melting snow and running it straight down the rivers into Puget Sound. That water hardly had a chance to get into the ground. It did spread out a bit too far and made a mess though.

Up on the highlands, away from the snow fed mountain rivers, our little Clover Creek was simply at a normal winter flow. It did not flood at all. Why? Because the groundwater has been drawn down so much by drought and population usage, it never had a chance to fill up.

Water plays many roles in Western Washington. The tides that come with the full moon can sometimes be so high that is coastal flooding.

The snowmelt from warm Winter rain in the mountains can cause rivers to overflow and give lowland flooding, washouts, and slides.

Colder weather with large amounts of rainfall over a longer period of time, can cause the groundwater aquifers to fill up and overflow. That is when you will find Clover Creek, Muck Creek, and other high plateau water routes overflowing and covering surface streets.

One other kind of flooding occurs in cold weather, after a large snowfall. If it suddenly warms up and melts, the roads fill with that awful slushy, dirty water that douses your vehicles and sends you searching for a car wash.

Flash flooding caused by runoff that cannot sink into parched soils may happen on the eastern side of the state, but are more common in desert areas. Those are referred to as arroyo floods. They are powerful and usually hit by surprise because the rain was in mountains, not the desert and there is no warning for the torrent.

All that water moves within a given watershed, the space, bounded by terrain that encloses the water to a given area. Washington State has 62 unique watersheds.

Each watershed has wetlands, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater infiltration sites. Forests and tree cover in them help to evaporate some of the rainfall. Each of those types of water bodies are used by cities, towns, water companies, and individuals as sources for drinking water.

So, after three years of drought, how does the coming year look? To be honest, not good.

You may hear television stations and weather reporters finally taking about it this year. This year, there clearly isn’t enough snow pack to hold water in reserve for the summer months. It would take some very unusual weather to get there now that it is already February.

Drought means you will be asked to conserve water. Shorter showers, less lawn watering, less and larger loads of laundry, flow restrictors, and just being aware how long that faucet is running.

It may mean digging wells deeper, at a cost, of course. In some cases, it means asking businesses that are large water consumers, like paper plants and canneries to lessen production. Water bottlers might be asked to take a vacation.

We have no idea how long it will be before the pendulum sweeps back and there is once again more than plenty of water. California and Nevada just got there after years of drought. The atmospheric rivers pelted them relentlessly for three years before there was a turn around.

The Pacific beaches and Puget Sound are not going away. If anything, they are going to continue to have higher tides. Spanaway Lake might get a bit lower, but it will still be there too. Some groundwater ponds like Frederickson Lake might dry up. If that happens, consider putting out a kiddie pool for the wildlife. The raccoons and birds get thirsty too. And if you happen to know a rain dance, please, go right ahead.