Despite recent rain and the end of fire season, much of the Pacific Northwest remains very dry.  Dr. Guillaume Mauger, Washington’s State Climatologist, has been tracking regional conditions.

 

“The last 30 days gets more extreme, especially in eastern Oregon and across Idaho and western Montana, for temperature as well as precipitation,” he noted.

 

According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than two-thirds of Oregon is still under some level of drought.  In Washington, 80% of the state is under some kind of drought classification.  And in Idaho, over 90% of the state is abnormally dry for this time of year.

 

And Dr. Mauger expects that trend to continue.

 

“There’s some slight shifts here and there, but it’s basically persisted," he said. "And it’s persisted for the same reason I mentioned earlier, which is we’ve had a warm and dry fall, and a fairly late onset of our fall rains. So, we’re sort of staying in drought status until those rains come in - or hopefully come in, and bring us back to normal."

 

The driest area in the region is a band stretching from Medford to Spokane, as well as eastern Idaho in the Rocky Mountains.

 

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail glenn.vaagen@townsquaremedia.com 

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