Despite Solid Statewide Numbers, Southern Oregon Snowpack Is MIA

The statewide snowpack for Oregon looks pretty good for this time of year, at 112% of average. However, things are not well across the entire state. Scott Oviatt, with NRCS-Oregon, said if you were to draw a line between Eugene and Ontario, snow packs look really good on the northern side, thanks to cooler temperatures an additional storm activity since mid-February.

“So, many parts of the state in particular, the Umatilla-Walla Walla-Willow Basin, and the Hood-Sandy-Lower Deschutes Basin, are well above normal. But when we look at the Klamath and Lake County-Goose Lake region, we’re well below normal, and that also includes the Owyhee Basin, so it’s a take of two stories at this point.”

Here are the latest snowpack numbers at basins across Oregon:

Grande Ronde-Burnt-Powder-Imnaha is 123% of average
Umatilla-Walla Walla-Willow is 134% of average
Hood-Sandy-Lower Deschutes 138% of average
Willamette is 118% of average
John Day is 103% of average
Upper Deschutes-Crooked is 100% of average
Harney is 92% of average
Malheur is 71% of average
Owyhee is 68% of average
Lake County-Goose Lake 65% of average
Klamath 75% of average
Rouge-Umpqua is 82% of average

Oviatt added many of the lower elevations across southern Oregon are very dry as well, with some locations already reporting Extreme or Exceptional droughts. And he noted this pattern has been going on for years.

“If we go back to the beginning of, October 1^st, 2019, and look at many of our sites in southwestern Oregon, these are all-time record lows in terms of precipitation and in terms of snowpack.”

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