OLYMPIA, Wash. -- State agencies are holding an internal meeting Thursday in Olympia to share information about the snowpack and weather forecast that could lead to a drought declaration in Washington.

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Ecology Department spokesman Curt Hart says conditions vary at watersheds around the state. He says the situation is not as bad as it was in 2001 when Governor Locke declared a drought in March.

Hart says it's possible a drought could be declared on a watershed basis instead of statewide.

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Under state law a drought occurs when the water supply drops to 75 percent of normal and water users will likely incur a hardship.

The department has already advised about 100 irrigators in the Wenatchee, Okanogan and Methow basins that there may be an interruption in junior water rights.

Overall, snowpack levels are 60 percent of normal and some watershed areas are even worse than that.

Snow levels that feed the Snoqualmie river are 54 percent of normal.

The Cedar River -- part of Seattle's water supply -- is 30 percent of its normal levels.

Lack of rain is taking its toll in wildfires.

Ordinarily, brush and timber fires don't reach danger levels until July or even August.

This year we've already seen more than three times the number of wildfires and we're not even halfway through May.

Seventy seven wildfire have been recorded statewide so far this spring in eastern and western Washington.

Last year only 22 fires had sparked by mid May. The reason: April 2004 has already gone down as the 15 driest on record.

The state agencies meeting to discuss the snowpack and streamflow conditions and weather forecast are Ecology, Agriculture, Fish and Wildlife, Department of Natural Resource, Economic Development, Emergency Management.

Hart says the state could use more cool damp weather this spring to keep water available this summer for reservoirs, farmers and fish.