Oregon’s Snowpack Woes Continue

It’s the home stretch of the snow season across the Northwest, with April 1st typically the highwater mark for snowpacks.

But you wouldn’t know it looking at the mountains across Oregon.

The current statewide snowpack is 29% of normal, which is the 2nd lowest snowpack in 46 years of records; only outdone by the winter of 2014-2015. Not a single basin across the state is above 50%, with the Grand Ronde-Burnt-Imnaha reporting the best snowpack at 46% of average.

Photo: Glenn Vaagen

Jason Ward with NRCS said these are troubling numbers for mid-March, especially for irrigation districts east of the Cascades.

“We have seen this sort of coming as we haven't seen a meaningful change during the winter, but it is going to involve challenging decisions for water management agencies and irrigators," Ward said. "Our forecasts for seasonal volume in the spring are still much below normal east of the Cascades and still slightly below normal west of the Cascades. It has more of a rainfall component.”

Photo: Glenn Vaagen

Recent Storms Have Offered Little Help

Snow and rain showers have moved across the state over the past couple of days, but unfortunately this system didn’t result in great accumulations. And it appears this system will be out of the area by the end of the week.

What does the start of spring look like? Could Oregon see cool temperatures and ample rain to help offset the lackluster winter?

Ward says don’t count on it.

“Medium term forecast is still calling for above normal temperatures, and the Climate Prediction Center is calling for equal chances of above or below normal [precipitation] for Northern Oregon up into Washington. And then Southern Oregon is actually calling for below a bit of a tendency to below normal for precipitation and above normal temperatures in Southern Oregon.”