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New Sheridan County Snowpack Report Poses Drought Concerns

The March 2022 snowpack report for Sheridan shows that levels haven’t changed much from the previous month, and it could be misleading in a bad way.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, many areas in the Big Horn Mountains report that snow levels are anywhere from 52 to 106 percent of average.
Overall the Tongue River Drainage area is at 81% of last year, while the Clear Creek Watershed is at 72%.
Andrew Cassidy is the District Conservationist in the Sheridan Field Office of the U-S-D-A Natural Resources Conservation Service.
He says all of Wyoming is below average, with some areas being better and worse than North-Central Wyoming.
Cassidy adds the snowpack numbers don’t necessarily represent all of Sheridan County.
“This is the time of year where I do worry about the mountain snow data not reflecting the low elevation portions of the county though and I think the eastern portions of Sheridan County are especially dry.”
The National Drought and Mitigation Center releases a new drought monitor map each Thursday.
In the most recent map, the lower elevations of Sheridan County as well as most of Johnson County and the northern half of Campbell County, have been labeled as areas in extreme drought.
This includes the cities of Sheridan, Buffalo and Gillette.
Click here to see the drought monitor map.
