YAKIMA – The heavy snow that fell in parts of Washington state in March boosted snowpack in the mountains but failed to make a dent in the drought, the Natural Resources Conservation Service said Friday.

Snowpack statewide increased from 26 percent of average last month to 31 percent of average, according to the April 1 snowpack and water supply forecast released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s conservation service.

However, 10 of 13 Washington river basins still set record lows for snowpack for that date.

The region would have needed up to 20 times more precipitation than occurred in March to improve the water supply significantly, said Scott Pattee, the agency’s water supply specialist.

“It’s still going to be a bad season, the way things are shaping up,” Pattee said.

Much of the state likely will experience record low or near record low stream flows, which could be devastating to fish runs, Pattee said. Streams also may lack the pools that are often used for fighting wildfires, which could make the firefighting effort much more difficult.

Associated Press

Oak Harbor: Plane crash kills one, injures one

A small plane crashed Friday afternoon south of here, killing one person and injuring another. The plane was carrying a male pilot and a woman passenger when it went down about 4 p.m. in a rural area shortly after takeoff from a private airstrip, said Jan Smith, spokeswoman for the Island County Sheriff’s Office. The woman was dead at the scene, and the 48-year-old man was airlifted to a hospital. Their identities and the man’s condition were not immediately available, but they were believed to be from Whidbey Island, Smith said. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, she said.

Associated Press

Seattle: Counterfeit dollar bills at school

A Seattle sixth-grader and two of his friends have been suspended for three days in a middle school counterfeiting incident. On Monday, a cafeteria worker at James Madison Middle School found a suspicious dollar bill. Seattle School District spokeswoman Patti Spencer said people in the lunchroom were told to watch for more phony bills. An assistant principal called Seattle police the next day after a sixth-grader tried to use one of the phony bills to buy beef jerky in the cafeteria. Seattle Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said the boy made 20 fake dollar bills on his aunt’s computer, brought them to school and shared them with his friends. The boys haven’t been taken into custody, but the King County Prosecutors’ Office is reviewing the case and deciding whether to file charges.

Associated Press

B.C.: Coast Guardsman dies of fractured skull

A member of the U.S. Coast Guard who was found in Victoria’s downtown in a pool of blood died at Victoria General Hospital on Wednesday. The branch’s public affairs officer in Juneau, Alaska, said James Asnin suffered a fractured skull and internal injuries late Sunday or early Monday. Asnin, 23, a seaman apprentice from Sitka, Alaska, was on shore leave while returning home after three weeks of training in Everett with the Coast Guard cutter Acushnet, based in Ketchikan. Victoria police were unsure what happened, but said earlier in the week that alcohol was a factor in the incident.

Associated Press