BEND, OR -- Oregon’s strong snowpack is good news for the summer, if it doesn’t melt off too fast. "Forecasts are predicting slightly above normal water supply conditions for the summer," says NRCS Hydrologist Matt Warbritton, "Which of course bodes well for reservoir storage and also the irrigation season, which has started already."

New snow in Central Oregon this pushed the Deschutes-Crooked River Basin over 100% of average for this time of year. But just to the north, the Mt. Hood and Lower Deschutes Basin is lower than normal. Jefferson County Commissioners have asked for a state drought declaration. Warbritton isn't surprised, "Throughout Oregon, especially in the Cascades, but also as you move out into Central Oregon, there’s a lot of microclimates that come into play. And of course, weather patterns aren’t always consistent over a much broader area." He tells KBND News, "Although snowpack and water-year-to-date precipitation over these past two winters have been beneficial to the Central Oregon region that have seen mostly near-normal conditions, there’s still some lingering longer term dry conditions."

Warbritton says northeast Oregon is also likely to see a lower water supply this summer, "There are some indications of drier soil moisture conditions in the Umatilla basin, as well as snowpack and precipitation deficits in parts of the Grande Ronde and Powder River basins."

The strongest snowpack is in the southeast corner of Oregon, "The Steens Mountain and the Owyhee and Harney Basin, those areas have really seen pretty good snowpack through the course of the winter," says Warbritton, "And those are regions, historically, that have trended a bit more dry. But in the past at least couple of years, those regions have been doing well." He adds, "Our Fish Creek Snotel site, which is up at higher elevations in the Steens Mountains, actually has recorded as of April first, its fifth highest snowpack on record. And that record dates back to 1941."