Oregon Snowpack Off To Dismal Start – KXL

Portland, Ore. –After some early season snow in the mountains, some Oregon ski resorts are now nervous about opening on time. Snowpack in every Oregon basin is far below normal for this time of year. “That’s primarily the result of a lot of these atmospheric river events, so far in the season, just missing Oregon,” says NRCS Senior Hydrologist Matt Warbritton. “It is still early in the season for the Cascades and the Blue Mountains. We’ve had several winters in the recent past – 2024, 2022 – where we didn’t really see snowpack pick up until late November and into mid-December.” But, he adds, “Of course, we do want to see snowpack start to accumulate in the mountains as soon as possible, but it’s early in the season.”

He is starting to worry about overall precipitation totals. Warbritton says, “We do expect more significant rainfall, and precipitation across the board, across the state. And, there are several basins that are in deficits.” Reservoirs, he says, have been slow to fill, “Especially if we move into central and northeastern Oregon, we’re seeing a little bit of a concerning deficit in precipitation.”

He says fall rain replenishes soil moisture and aids in drought recovery. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 31% of Oregon remains under some sort of drought designation and more than half the state is considered at least Abnormally Dry. 

The federal government shutdown delayed data gathering and analysis by NRCS-Oregon, which is managed by the USDA. But Warbritton says they are now caught up after the six-week pause.