(Bloomberg) — Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Friday declareda drought emergency, citing historically low snowpack anddwindling rivers.

The arid conditions are threatening crops and fish and couldcause more wildfires as snow drops to 16% of normal levels and 78%of streams run below average, according to a statement fromInslee's office.

“We're really starting to feel the pain,” Inslee, a 64-year-oldDemocrat, said in the statement. “Impacts are already severe inseveral areas of the state.”

The Western drought that's gripping California for afourth year is spreading as climate change accelerates the meltingof snowpacks, which supply most water in the western U.S. That'sforced farmers to reduce crop production, struggle to find adequatewater and spend thousands to dig deeper wells to tap diminishinggroundwater.

Glacier lilies are blooming on Washington's Olympic Peninsula,where there would normally be 80 inches of snow, Inslee's officesaid in the release. Fish are being hauled upstream to cooler waterin the Walla Walla region.

Washington's farmers are facing an estimated $1.2 billion incrop losses this year, according to the state's AgricultureDepartment. Irrigation districts are turning off water to farmersfor weeks to conserve supply for later in the year in the YakimaBasin, popular for growing wine grapes and beer hops.

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