Oregon snowpack below average, despite late snow

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Oregon’s snowpack is below average heading into April, despite snow and cooler weather last month.

The Capital Press reported Monday that all basins are behind on snowpack and most are measuring between 40 and 70 percent of normal levels.

The areas close to the Columbia River have a nearly normal snowpack for April, but parts of southern Oregon are much worse off.

The Hood River, Sandy and Lower Deschutes basins are at 94 percent of normal snowpack.

The Umatilla, Walla Walla and Willow basins also reached 93 percent of normal.

In southern Oregon, the Malheur and Owyhee basins both received less than half their usual snow pack, and the Klamath Basin is just barely at 50 percent.

Gov. Kate Brown has already declared a drought in Klamath County.

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Information from: Capital Press, http://www.capitalpress.com/washington