It’s rare for snow to fall across nearly all of Oregon at the same time, according to meteorologist Clinton Rockey with the National Weather Service in Portland. Yet, that is exactly what happened last month.
Rockey spoke with Dave Miller on OPB’s “Think Out Loud,” about what to expect for the rest of the month and what the weather means for snowpack in the new year. After unusually heavy snow and rain in early winter, a reprieve in precipitation is on the way for the second weekend in January.
“I think everyone can agree we need a break and indeed, Mother Nature is bringing that. We’re going to have drier weather,” Rockey said.
Snow showers will likely continue in the Cascade range this weekend, but temperatures throughout the Willamette Valley should return to the average for this time of year.
“We’ll have the sunshine out and people can get out and enjoy a little fresh air,” Rockey said. “Some of us are probably feeling a little stir crazy being locked up since mid-December with no place to go with all the rain and snow.”
The snow caused road closures, downed trees and trapped people inside, but it was good for recovering snowpack after a last year’s drought conditions.
“We’re in pretty good shape right now,” Rockey said. “We’re roughly double where we should be for right about now in early January.”
Rockey said it’s too soon to predict whether the snowpack will stick around, or melt off quickly in warm spring temperatures. And with winter only half over, more snow could be on the horizon.
“Right now, it looks like we may continue on track with kind of a typical January into February,” Rockey said. “That tends to be our snowier part of the year, so even though we had snow early on, perhaps we’ll continue to pile up snow in the higher terrain.”
In lower elevation areas, Rockey isn’t making firm predictions for spring, though he said some indicators point to above-average temperatures.