La Nina Weather Pattern Causing Concerns Over Snowpack

La Nina seems to have settled over the Northwest and looks to be the predominant weather pattern for the winter.

USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey said that higher elevation snow has actually fared well.

“But you get to the lower, what we call the middle elevations, and a lot of the precipitation has fallen as rain. That could come back to haunt the Northwest if this pattern continues.”

That pattern of storms that don’t have a lot of cold weather in them and have most of the precipitation falling as rain.

Rippey said that could cause problems for the long-term outlook.

“As we would head into the spring months with a lack of mid-level snowpack that could translate into water supply concerns even if fairly wet conditions continue.”

Last year at this time we had seen roughly 3-6 inches of snow around the Columbia Basin, 1-7 inches around the Wenatchee Valley and about an inch around Pendleton.