Spring Snow Surprise for Chelan County

One would not expect to see a foot of snow blessing their vision in mid-April, let alone a troubling weather precedent for the upcoming spring harvest. Although the global climate crisis has become increasingly troubling, the recent snowfall is not a side effect of climate change.

From April 12-14, Chelan County received several inches of snow, with approximately 14.5 inches in the Lake Wenatchee/Plain region and about 7-16 inches in Wenatchee. 

Chelan County Public Information officer Jill M FitzSimmons shared some of the county’s snow plowing issues.

“One of the problems with snow this time of the year is that to put a plow on the roads now, when there is only a couple inches and it’s melting rapidly, is you can tear up the road. The districts also have to watch for rapidly melting snow and cold temps that will then freeze the snowmelt, creating icy conditions.”

FitzSimmons reports that on April 12, White River received 10 inches of snow, 7-8 inches at Lake Wenatchee, 8-9 inches at Merritt, 6 inches at Plain, and 3-4 inches on lower routes.

Cashmere and Dryden received an average of 5 inches and was quickly melted off during the day.

Chelan County resides within the east slope central zone. On April 14, that zone scored a 3 out of 5 on the avalanche danger scale from the Northwest Avalanche Center.

Northwest Avalanche Center US Forest Service Forecast Director, Dennis D’Amico, states that although it is not unusual to have snow in April, it is unusual to see snow for this long in April.

Assistant State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco gives some historical context to the recent weather anomaly. Bumbaco states that it is more unusual for Wenatchee to receive snow in April than it is for Leavenworth. The last time Wenatchee received springtime snow was in 1935 and 1968. 

“For Leavenworth there [is] some missing data in the 1930’s and 1970’s, but the station appears to have decent snow records since 1915, though some years have spotty data. April snowfall is unusual, but not unprecedented. April snow like what we've seen over the last week looks to occur about once a decade there.”

Although the climate has been getting considerably hotter, causing erratic weather patterns, Bumbaco states that this recent snowfall is not related to the climate crisis.