Report: State's water supply off to strong start in 2017

Anderson Ranch Reservoir was storing nearly 254,000 acre-feet of water as of Jan. 1, which was above last year's storage figures when the reservoir was storing close to 232,000 acre-feet of water, according to a report released last month by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Wet weather conditions in October left lakes, streams and reservoirs across southern Idaho in good shape at the start of the new year with some areas seeing nearly twice the normal amounts of rain and snow, according to a report released last week by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Many weather monitoring stations across the state reported record-high precipitation in October that was followed by a dry November. Precipitation since the start of the water year last fall varies across the state ranging from 80 to 95 percent of average in parts of northern Idaho with the headwaters of the Upper Snake and Owyhee basins at more than 130 percent of average.

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