Despite warm February, Oregon snowpack still about average

It wasn’t the snowiest February, to be sure, and at times was downright warm and mild. But despite that, Tuesday’s monthly snow survey at three spots along the Cascade Lakes Highway west of Bend turned out better than expected, with the snowpack’s water still near 30-year averages – and far better than a year ago.

“We are actually doing fairly well,” said Kurt Moffitt, Redmond-based soil survey leader for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. “With how warm February was, I was expecting below-average snow-water equivalent, but we are doing okay.” And that’s crucial for snowmelt that provides water supplies for rivers and streams the rest of the year.

The New Dutchman No. 3 snow course near Mt. Bachelor, at 6,300 feet, had an average depth of 98 inches, nearly double the figure of a year ago, and a 40-inch snow water equivalent, 102 percent of normal. The Tangent snow course, at 5,400 feet elevation, near Wanoga Sno-Park also was at just about average, with nearly 44 inches of snow and a snow-water equivalent of 18 inches — 10 times last year’s figure.

As is often the case, there was no snow at the lowest-elevation stop, the Hungry Flat Snow Course, 2 miles above Seventh Mountain Resort., but Moffitt noted, “that site is fairly volatile with its statistical range.”

Compared to February, “we did have less total snow depths, but the density is staying high enough that we’re still hovering near the 30-year normal,” Moffitt said.

The Upper Deschutes-Crooked River Basin overall is at 96 percent of normal, according to the daily automated readings by Oregon SNOTEL, similar to reading elsewhere in Southern, Central and Eastern Oregon. The only areas measurably below average are the Willamette Basin, at 82 percent, and the Hood-Sandy-Lower Deschutes, at 81 percent.