With all the snow we’ve received in the Pacific Northwest over the past several weeks, it’s crazy to think that there are still some parts of the region still experiencing drought conditions. Almost all of the drought is centered in the Oregon Cascades and the high deserts south of John Day (with a small amount up in Okanogan County). In the map above, these areas are shown in the tan (moderate drought) and orange (severe drought). The yellow is considered to be abnormally dry, but not dry enough to be counted as drought conditions.
The location of the continuing drought is good for the Columbia Basin because the worst of it is in watersheds that either don’t enter the Columbia River at all, or enter it downstream of us. Here are the watersheds to watch this spring, and where they enter the Columbia (if at all):
- Deschutes River watershed; enters Columbia near Biggs Junction.
- Great Basin of Oregon (doesn’t enter the Columbia, or flow to the ocean at all).
- Klamath River; enters the Pacific at Klamath, Calif. (doesn’t enter the Columbia).
- Willamette River; enters Columbia near Portland.
Critical rivers for irrigation in our area, like the Yakima, have normal amounts of moisture and for those that don’t, they are only listed as abnormally dry. I’m not very familiar with who draws from where (except I know Kennewick Irrigation District draws from the Yakima), but I’m confident that unless we have a fast snow melt in the mountains most of us won’t have water restrictions this summer.
Drought conditions in the entire region have improved impressively. Three months ago, all of Oregon was considered to be abnormally dry, with 98% of it being classified as drought conditions. About a third of this even earned the label of ‘extreme drought,’ which would be red on the map above if there was any left over.
Washington has also seen significant improvement, though the situation wasn’t nearly as severe. Three months ago, 72% of the state was considered to be abnormally dry but only 33% of Washington had any sort of drought. Today, only 36% of the state is even abnormally dry with areas of drought restricted to 4% of Washington.
As we move toward the end of March, the Climate Prediction Center is expecting significant improvement to continue. Complete drought removal is anticipated for the Western Oregon Cascades and the southeast corner of Oregon, while improvement is expected in the rest of Oregon’s drought south of about La Pine. It’s expected to linger around for a bit longer in the North Oregon Cascades and Okanogan County, but we’ll take what we can get.
As I briefly touched on this earlier and talked about on the radio yesterday, there are still a couple of concerns leading into this summer. Snowpack is strong, especially in Oregon, but as Karin Bumbaco, Washington’s Assistant State Climatologist told Oregon Public Broadcasting last month:
“Sometimes when we do have a warmer than usual spring we can see that snowpack melt faster than usual and see some drought conditions as a result of that. So we’re always monitoring. I wouldn’t say we’re totally out of the woods, but the improvement in February has alleviated some concerns.”
Beyond that, another concern is wildfires. It may seem ironic given that there’s so much new moisture, but winters like this can lead to awful fire seasons. The snow we have provides an excellent opportunity for plant life to flourish, but if we transition to hotter and drier than usual going into the summer like the Climate Prediction Center is forecasting, that means many of those plants will die.
This provides ample amounts of fuel for wildfires to quickly get out of hand. We’re no stranger to the impacts of wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. They can be swift-moving, destructive, deadly, and send thick clouds of smoke for hundreds of miles as Charlie discussed in a post last summer. It’s my hope that we can keep snow in the mountains, possibly even into mid-summer, and that we will see plenty of moisture throughout the summer to keep the fires at bay.
The featured image is cropped from the National Drought Monitor which is created by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.
