Oregon Snowpack Looks Good For Mid-February, More Would Be Nice

After a month of several winter storms, the Oregon snowpack is much improved from January. Matt Warbritton, with NRC Oregon, says most basins across the state are near or above average for this time of year. Some of the best performing basins right now are found in the southeast portion of the state, including:

The Lake County-Goose Lake at 124% of normal
The Owyhee Basin at 118% of average
The Harney Basin at 130% of normal

While the statewide picture is much better, Warbritton says there are some areas of concern.

"Central Oregon, the continued concern is those areas in extreme drought like in Crook County and the surrounding counties those areas have really just been in this really prolonged persistent drought and we also saw drought expansion into the central cascades in the southern Willamette those areas have really been starting to get drier and drier.”

Warbritton added he’s hopeful incoming storms later this month and into March will help reverse that trend.

“We really need more storms to bolster that snowpack so all basins kind of go across that above normal threshold and stay there throughout the season.”

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-9791, or e-mail glenn.vaagen@townsquaremedia.com