Low Snowpack In Western Oregon Doesn't Bode Well For Summer

PORTLAND, OR – What do you et when you take a long, hot, dry summer and follow it up with a winter that starts late? A snowpack that's significantly lower than normal.

That's what is happening on Mt. Hood and in the western Cascades.

Researchers from the Natural Resources Conservation Service – a part of the Department of Agriculture – released a report late last week saying that while the snowpack on the eastern part of the state is generally at or above normal, the same is not true on the western part of Oregon.

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The January Water Supply Outlook Report, which includes measuring the snowpack, found that the snowpack in western Oregon is only 65 percent of normal. Researchers say that that is not a good sign for the summer.

"The long range weather forecast does not favor significant snowpack recovery in the coming months," according to the Snow Survey Supervisory Hydrologist, Scott Oviatt.

At the same time, he points out that: "At this early date in the snow season, there is plenty of opportunity for the outlook to change.

"Last year at this time, all basins in the state had less than 60 percent of normal snowpack."

Oviatt says that the rest of winter is critical for figuring out if reservoir storage levels will recover to normal levels in time for the summer irrigation season.

Meanwhile, a new study co-written by a scientist at Oregon State University says people need to understand that there's a good chance it will get worse.

The study by Nick Siler of OSUs College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and two co-authors appears in the most recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Siler and co-authors found that while natural changes in the surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean have helped keep the snowpack from declining, that's not likely to last.

The result would be to see the winter snowpack decline at a faster pace over the next few decades.

Siler says that the changing conditions may have been "great for us so far, it's bad news for the future."

Photo via Oregon State University.