Cascades snowpack near last year’s level

Snowpack melting across the Cascades is what keeps the reservoirs filled during the summer months. In order to help Central Oregon through potential droughts, the snowpack needs to be at or above normal.

“What we’d really like to see is the snowpack building up, which requires cool temperatures and snow in the mountains, and that is really our reservoir for next summer,” Oregon Water Resources Department Region Manager Kyle Gorman said Thursday.

The Pacific Northwest has seen record rainfall totals over the past week. The Cascades are beginning to see snowfall instead of rain, which was taking away from the base at Mt. Bachelor.

“It’s setting up to be a really amazing weekend here,” Mt. Bachelor Marketing and Communications Manager Stirling Cobb said.

Mt. Bachelor received 14 inches of new snow on Thursday, but the snowpack is still well below normal.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service, which records precipitation and snowpack levels, says while the Central Oregon Cascades are currently at 92 percent of normal for precipitation, the snowpack level is just 34 percent of normal.

“You like to have it snow in the mountains, and if you get this rain during the winter, well it’s nice for precipitation and vegetation, but it hurts for the snowpack,” said Mary Wister, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service Pendleton.

The NRCS said the record-low snowpack last winter contributed to a record drought year in Central Oregon.