Snowpack Well Below Normal

Cascade Mountains in Oregon (photo courtesy Wallowa Chieftain

 The snowpack at Wallowa County’s two mountain  SNOwpack TELemetry (SNOTEL) sites was well below average last Sunday, a condition that holds true for the entire state of Oregon.

According to the National Resource Conservation Service, Aneroid Lake No. 2, at 7,300 feet, reported a snow water content of 9 inches, which is 57 percent of average. Total precipitation at Aneroid Lake No. 2 was 14.0 inches, 69 percent of the 20.3 inch average.

l. to r. Students Ruben Vasquez of Wyoming, Fred Cummings of Colorado, Dennis Waggoner of Colorado (holding tub) and Pat Boyd of Wyoming measure snow during outdoor training NRCS School Teaches Snow Sampling and Winter Survival Students learned proper techniques of measuring snow pack and good winter survival skills during the West-Wide Snow Survey Training School in Tahoe City, CA during January, 2005. Forty-seven students from nine western states attended this year’s school, conducted annually by NRCS with other federal and state agencies. Students learned skills such as snow sampling, avalanche recognition, cold weather survival techniques and outdoor emergency care. They also slept overnight in a snow cave they constructed. They received certificates upon successful completion of the school. The students, employed in the water resources arena, came from federal agencies such as NRCS, Forest Service and Bureau of Reclamation; state and local agencies; utilities and one tribe from Oregon. Snow serves as a primary source of water in the western United States.

NRCS district conservationist, Tom Smith pointed out that this same time last year — a year everyone thought to be below average for snowfall and precipitation — Aneroid Lake No. 2 recorded 74 percent of average snow water content.

The snow water equivalent data for Mt. Howard, elevation 7,910 feet, was not available, but it did record total precipitation of 10.9 inches, 60 percent of the 18.2 inch average.

“Who knows what Mother Nature is going to bring in the next few months,” Smith said.

He continued with more sobering news: The region normally receives 40 percent of its moisture between Feb. 1 and April 15. Even if the region gets 100 percent of normal precipitation during that period, the result will still be 75 percent of average.

Wallowa County extension agent John Williams said that a lot of precipitation comes between now and the spring, so it’s too early to tell whether there will be a drought this year. “It could repair itself pretty fast,” he said.

Mt. Howard and Aneroid Lake No. 2 are part of the Grande Ronde, Powder, Burnt and Imnaha Basin, which as a whole recorded a 48 percent snow water equivalent this week, having received 69 percent of average precipitation.

Every other basin in the state also recorded below average snow water equivalent reports this week.

Visit the NRCS Oregon Web site.

Basin-wide averages were as follows: Owyhee, 72 percent; Malheur, 59 percent; Umatilla, Walla Walla, Willow, 26 percent; John Day, 55 percent; Deschutes, Crooked, 55 percent; Lower Columbia, Hood River, 19 percent; Coast Range, 0 percent; Willamette, 30 percent; Rogue, Umpqua 51 percent; Klamath, 48 percent; Lake County, Goose Lake, 90 percent; and Harney, 64 percent.
From the February 3, 2005 Wallowa Chieftain