SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s snowpack is below normal again and data shows the state is reaching historically normal levels less often.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service shows the state’s snow-water equivalent in the mountains is 72 percent of normal, with the number lower in Western Oregon, the Statesman Journal reported Thursday.
The state has reached a normal snowpack level in four of the last 10 years, according to the federal data.
“It’s pretty clear that the idea of what’s normal is shifting, and that we’ve just become accustomed to these bad or below average years,” said Kathie Dello, a climate scientist with Oregon State University. “That’s particularly true in years where people are still able to go skiing — we just don’t notice it as much.”
Lower elevations in Western Oregon had meager snowfall, accounting for the low snowpack. Snow in the Cascade Range at about 5,000 feet is OK, but drops off below that, said Scott Oviett, snow survey hydrologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
