OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington Department of Ecology (WDOE) is expanding its drought emergency to include some of Western Washington's most populous counties.

Previously centered around Yakima, the new map now crosses well over the Cascades and into the Puget Sound region to include most of Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties.

Since the initial declaration in April, conditions in all of Whatcom and Skagit counties, and parts of Snohomish, King, Pierce, Lewis, Thurston, Okanagan, Chelan, Clallam, Jefferson and Ferry counties have deteriorated.

DOE Director Casey Sixkiller said the expansion is a result of an unseasonably warm April and May, which melted much more snow than expected, two to four weeks earlier than normal across the Central and North Cascades.

The expansion of the decl

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