
The mild winter is proving to have a major impact on Wyoming's snow pack, including in Sheridan County.
The state's snow pack this year is less than 80 percent of an average year, but in the Tongue River Basin the snow pack is only two–thirds of the average.
This could become the second straight dry year for Wyoming, which would affect water supplies for irrigators and municipalities.
Conservationists hope the next month or two can bring some snow to help offset the low levels.
"It really does depend on what we get the next few months. I mean it could be the same and we'd see early runoff and lower snow pack, lower reservoir levels," said Andrew Cassiday, a Natural Resources Conservation Service district conservationist.
Sheridan County is actually lucky. The eastern part of the state is seeing even lower levels. Cassiday says the North Platte River Basin is around 30 percent of the average snow pack for this time of the year.