Snowstorms moving through Southern Oregon and Northern California counties boosted the region鈥檚 snowpack, but have yet to return them to normal levels.
Southern Oregon鈥檚 snowpack increased by 30% in the last week, according to the National Weather Service. The Rogue and Umpqua Basins are now at 88% of normal for snowpack. California鈥檚 western Siskiyou county is lower, at 70% of normal.
Despite the accumulating snowpack in the mountains, the region鈥檚 water year, a measurement of precipitation since the beginning of October, also remains below average.
鈥淲e had such a dry October and November we got off to a bad start for our water year,鈥� says Misty Firmin, a meteorologist with Medford鈥檚 National Weather Service, 鈥淔or Medford proper we鈥檙e only at 56% of normal.鈥�
Much of southern Oregon and parts of California鈥檚 Siskiyou and Modoc Counties are listed as 鈥渁bnormally dry鈥�, the lowest ranking by the .
鈥淲e鈥檙e catching up but we had a pretty rough start, so I think that鈥檚 why we have an abnormally dry category,鈥� Firmin says.
More snow in the mountains and rain at lower elevations is likely to boost those numbers in the coming weeks.
