The snowpack in Oregon’s mountain ranges is at or near record-low levels in 40 percent of monitoring sites, which could mean trouble for irrigators, wildlife and water quality this summer.
While total precipitation measured since the start of the Oct. 1 water year is near normal, most of it has fallen as rain instead of snow and won’t be available later in the year. Streams and rivers that depend on snowmelt probably will be running thin this summer, according to the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Some monitoring sites in Oregon’s mountains are snow-free for the first time since measurements began. As of Feb. 1, snow levels at 44 of 110 NRCS monitoring sites were at or near record lows.
It’s the second consecutive year Oregon has reached the peak of winter with a meager snowpack. Major February snowstorms eased the situation last year and snow can drape the mountain ranges in March or April, but relief isn’t in the immediate forecast, said Melissa Webb, an NRCS hydrologist based in Portland.
“We have a month or two for recovery, there’s time for improvement,” Webb said. “That said, across the mountains of the Oregon—the Cascades, Siskiyous, Ochocos—we are seeing record low snowpack levels.”
Webb said heavy rains that drenched much of the Pacific Northwest this month are a benefit. The rain helps fill reservoirs, stream flows are in good shape and soil moisture has improved. Snow is what the region really needs, she said, but a cold, wet spring would help.
“The later the spring, the better,” Webb said. “If we’re not going to have a normal snowpack, delaying summer heat and snowmelt would be a good thing.”
The NRCS snowpack report said Idaho and Washington also have water supply problems.
In Idaho, a dry January clouded what had been an optimistic outlook for the central, southern and eastern parts of the state. Northern Idaho’s snowpack dropped further below normal and is the state’s “area of most concern for a very low runoff season,” the NRCS report concluded.
In Washington, rain and warm temperatures in the mountains melted some of the snowpack and reduced streamflow forecasts for the coming months. Washington would have to get more than 200 percent of normal snowfall between now and April 1 to “even have a chance of catching up” to typical snowpack levels, according to the NRCS.
In California, where the snowpack’s water content stood at 20 percent of normal in January, Gov. Jerry Brown has already declared a statewide water emergency. The directive orders state officials to help farmers and communities that are economically damaged by drought and to make sure the state can respond to drinking water shortages.
Source: www.capitalpress.com