Photos by Mike Salsbury/The Olympian
Yelm fisher Dale Heinselman hooks into a Chinook salmon at Capitol Lake beneath Interstate 5 on Friday. The final day of summer brought fishing luck for Heinselman, who landed the fall migrating fish.

Karl Dehm of Olympia fixes a tangled fishing reel as a Chinook salmon goes airborne behind him at Capitol Lake on Friday.

Autumn off to parched start

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published September 22, 2001

"By this time we're usually pulling out our raincoats." -- Rex Holloway, U.S. Forest Service Region 6

OLYMPIA -- The increasing gold and red leaves appearing in the woods is a sure sign that summer is over.

Today is the first day of fall. Can the quenching rains be far behind?

So far this year is shaping up to be one of the driest on record in the West.

It's so dry, the Olympia area is 16 1/2 inches below average for the water year that began last Oct. 1.

Average water year precipitation in South Sound is 49 inches -- so far, 32.5 inches have fallen since Oct. 1 -- with no serious rain in the immediate forecast, said Jay Albrecht, forecaster with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

"But things can change," Albrecht said.

The shortfall could easily be made up in the next week, but more likely it will continue to be cloudy with an occasional drizzle, Albrecht said.

"By this time we're usually pulling out our raincoats," said Rex Holloway, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service Region 6 office in Portland.

"It's still very dry out there in the woods," Holloway said.

No fire restrictions are in effect in Western Washington, but he urged people to check with local officials before heading into the woods to hunt or cut wood, especially in Eastern Washington.

The weather outlook is for an average winter with average temperatures and precipitation, Albrecht said. But the rain may not begin falling until later next week.

Typically the soaking rains of fall don't being until the second or third week of October, Albrecht said.

September has been unusually dry, Albrecht said. The average rain for the entire month is just over 2 inches, but so far the area has gotten less than a tenth of an inch.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources and the Gifford Pinchot National Forest report low to moderate fire danger in South Sound woods. But officials encourage campers and hunters to be careful with all fires and to make sure campfires are completely out before leaving them.

A ban on all open burning continues for all of Thurston County.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445.

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