The approach of April marks a key time of the year. It鈥檚 when mountain snow usually peaks across Oregon 鈥� offering a hint at the severity of the coming wildfire season and about conditions for farmers who rely on irrigation.
Throughout the state, snowpacks are about normal, with some exceptions in northeast Oregon, where levels are below average. The Umatilla-Walla Walla-Willow region is at 83% of normal as of late March.
Snowpack, and more specifically its snow-water equivalent percentage 鈥� a measure of how much water the snow contains 鈥� is like a natural water reservoir, and the measure gives experts a good idea of water supplies for the spring and summer months, said Larry O鈥橬eill, Oregon鈥檚 state climatologist.
O鈥橬eill said weather conditions this year have been erratic. In early January, snowpacks were well below normal levels, then gave Oregon mountain ranges a boost.
鈥滱nd so it really kind of started to quell our fears a bit about how bad this water season would be,鈥� O鈥橬eill said.
Then in mid-March, warmer temperatures across the Willamette Valley triggered early snowmelt across some areas.
The March snowmelt 鈥渨asn鈥檛 the worst, but it was definitely way above normal,鈥� O鈥橬eill said. 鈥淎nd the reason that is so critical is because it鈥檚 a reservoir of water and it would release that water too early into the system before we can use it.鈥�
Ryan Andrews, a hydrologist for the Oregon Water Resources Department, said conditions on average throughout the state are good, given that it鈥檚 a . El Ni帽o is a Pacific Ocean event that usually creates warmer, drier winters in the Northwest.
Right now, reservoir levels across Oregon are varied. The in Central Oregon is 96% full, while Wickiup 鈥� which feeds several water irrigation districts in areas that produce specialty seed crops, hay and cattle 鈥� is at 76%.
Andrews said there鈥檚 still time for reservoirs to fill up, though there are a few wildcards, one being that Oregon is still at the tail-end of a yearslong drought. Soil moisture conditions in a lot of the agricultural basins, which don鈥檛 get covered directly with snow, are still recovering from drought, especially in Central Oregon. If the soil is still dry it鈥檒l act as a sponge and absorb all the snow melt when the weather warms.
The other variable: It鈥檚 uncertain if it will stay cool enough for snow to melt slowly into the summer months and feed into rivers and streams.
鈥淎lthough things are looking good in terms of drought coverage, we aren鈥檛 out of the woods yet, especially as we鈥檙e at this time, this critical time, when we鈥檙e not exactly sure what鈥檚 gonna happen with snowpack and how that鈥檚 gonna translate to stream flow,鈥� Andrews said.
Copyright 2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting. To see more, visit .