Oregon Snowpack Off To A Good Start

Much like Washington, the early season snowpack across Oregon is reason for optimism and encouragement.  Some are crediting La Nina for the cooler, wetter weather.  But Matt Warbritton with NRCS said that may be premature.

“We can’t say right now that this is due to La Nina. It’s due to, certainly, favorable weather conditions that have produced early season snowpack. But we also know that early season snowpack can be highly variable.”

Warbritton said early season snow can signal a strong season; but it can also taper off, warm up and melt off.  It’ll be a few more weeks before we know whether La Nina materializes, and if it’ll be strong enough to keep the snow coming.  Despite the encouraging start, Warbritton says he’s still worried about the northeast corner of the state.

“That’s a part of the state where, right now, we’re still seeing precipitation deficits develop in this new water year, which started October one," Warbritton noted.  "So, the rest of the state, most of our SNOTEL stations are hanging around near normal for precipitation.”

Warbritton said Oregon’s snowpack is strong and much higher than normal for this time of year.  And that was before this most recent system rolled in from the Pacific.

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