BEND, OR -- Winter storms have, so far, been kind to Oregon ski resorts and the stae's overall snowpack. The Deschutes and Crooked River basin is currently 109% of normal for this time of year.

NRCS Hydrologist Matt Warbritton says the season started with lots of snow in the northern part of the state, "As we moved into the end of December and into early January, those storm impacts shifted more south. And I’m sure many people have seen the news about the ‘atmospheric river’ that’s impacting northern California. In southern Oregon, the basins have been receiving a significant amount of snow from those storms." Snowpack in the Lake County, Harney and Owyhee basins are all more than 150% of normal for this point in the season. "The southern Oregon basins east of the Cascade crest have been well above normal since the storms in November, up until now," Warbritton says, "They’ve been receiving some pretty consistent storm impacts."

But, Warbritton says, it's a different story in Central Oregon, "The snowpack, in general, for that basin and for much of Central Oregon has been declining as a percent [of] normal." He tells KBND News, "Coming into December and then early January, there’s just been less accumulation." It could mean bad news for an already struggling region. Crook County is the only county in Oregon still under the “exceptional drought designation,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and Prineville Reservoir is just 18% of average right now. Ochoco Reservoir is at 24% and Crescent Lake, in the southern portion of the basin, is 16%. "We will certainly see that number increase as snow melts and that water turns into runoff, and then goes into the stream and starts to fill that reservoir," says Warbritton.  He adds, summer reservoir numbers are dependent on the next few months; peak accumulation typically comes in March and April.