◆ March snowfall does little to help outlook in Star Valley and Wyoming.

Despite a few late season snow storms, Star Valley and most of Wyoming remain in severe drought conditions. Instead, the long term dry spell has kept, and even intensified, drought and dry soil conditions across the region, according to the National Weather Service.

“An extended dry weather pattern has kept various intensities of drought conditions continuing across the entire state of Wyoming as indicated by the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, which was updated on March 15th,” stated a statement from the National Weather Service Riverton Office. “Overall, drought conditions have intensified across parts of the state over the past four weeks, particularly across western and northern Wyoming.”

The statement went on to read that “After a very dry January and February, some moisture did move across the state by late February and mid March. Most of this new snow fell across central Wyoming, particularly across the Wind River Mountains, while hardly any significant snow fell west of the Continental Divide.”

The National Weather Service’s Statement reiterated that reservoir levels across the state will once again be below average this summer, and that the drought will continue to have impacts on agriculture and fire danger.

Local snowpacks in the Salt River Range were bolstered by a winter storm that came through March 7, dropping an average of 5-7 inches of accumulation on the Star Valley floor with an average of 8-12 inches in the mountains. Some areas received as much as 18 inches from the storm. However, due to a very dry January and February, and a dry forecast for the rest of March, snowpack levels remain below average.