Climate Lab is a Seattle Times initiative that explores the effects of climate change in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The project is funded in part by The Bullitt Foundation, CO2 Foundation, Jim and Birte Falconer, Mike and Becky Hughes, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Martin-Fabert Foundation, Craig McKibben and Sarah Merner, University of Washington and Walker Family Foundation, and its fiscal sponsor is the Seattle Foundation.

THE YAKIMA RIVER BASIN — Heavy fall rains might have returned to Western Washington, but east of the Cascade crest, people still look to the skies, waiting for much-needed water.

They’ve been watching and waiting for three years now.

The lack of rain and snow forced farmers to tear out their apple orchards by the acre. Wine grapes are withering on the vine. M

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