Upper Willamette snowpack, reservoirs looking OK for now, but dry-weather forecasts cause concern

By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — Compared to other parts of Oregon, moisture levels in the Upper Willamette region are close to normal so far this spring, although federal agencies are cautioning that continued dry weather could still change the outlook and create a severe threat of summer fires for communities in the Highway 58 corridor.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared a drought emergency in Klamath County. In contrast, the National Weather Service says the Cascade Mountains snowpack from Mount Hood to the Three Sisters and Diamond Peak is 123 to 135 percent of normal, and the amount of water entering Hills Creek and Lookout Point reservoirs this spring is so far slightly above normal.

Even though northern Oregon is faring well so far, much of the south-central part of the state is experiencing extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and the region is entering the spring with mountain snowpack well below normal.

“The Klamath Basin faces one of the most difficult water years in recent memory,” the governor said in a press release. “Moving forward, we must look at long-term solutions to the underlying issue in Klamath and many other Oregon counties: there is too little water in the ground, and as the climate changes we are experiencing hotter, drier summers.”

The top half of Oregon, which includes the Upper Willamette region bordered on the south by Diamond Peak, may be having a fairly normal spring so far, but that could change if dry, sunny weather that’s expected for the rest of April should continue into May and June, forecasters say.

Tom Conning, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the large reservoirs near Oakridge and Lowell, does not sound optimistic.

“As it stands, we’re looking at an insufficient water year,” he told the Statesman Journal newspaper. “Forecasted rain in March and April didn’t materialize. We need steady precipitation up to June to have a good water year.”

He said the Upper Willamette’s snowpack “is decent,” at 124 percent,  “but only really helps us out in keeping reservoir elevations up in the summer as the snowmelt, if it lasts, matches outflows.”