Portions of the Wallowa Mountains snowpack was at a record low in 2015. A new University of Idaho study indicates that low snowpacks, like this view of the Wallowa Mountains on March 9, 2015, may become more common in the future.

As Oregon’s snowpack levels are generally measuring terribly low for a second straight year, the bad news locally is that, as of March 1, conditions here aren’t as good as they were last March, when the local snowpack was the only bright spot in an otherwise bleak statewide report.

Oregon’s mountains continue to experience record low snowpack levels, according to snow survey data from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Statewide, warm February temperatures generally resulted in more rain than snow in the mountains. While February brought a few snow events across the state, the snow accumulation was not enough to significantly improve conditions. Forty-five percent of Oregon’s long-term snow monitoring sites are at or near the lowest snowpack levels on record.

“Without snowpack in the mountains to support spring runoff, many streams and rivers across Oregon will likely experience below normal flows this year,” said Scott Oviatt, NRCS Oregon snow survey supervisor. “Low flowing rivers in the summer have many implications affecting fish, wildlife, irrigation, livestock, city municipalities and hydropower operations. Reservoir operators have at least been able to take advantage of the rain by increasing reservoir storage in many locations.”

The Wallowa Basin’s snowpack was reported to be 73 percent of average in the March 1 report, as compared to 102 percent in March 2014. The Imnaha Basin, currently at 72 percent, was at 86 percent a year ago. Elsewhere in Northeast Oregon, conditions were significantly worse, with NRCS warning that water users in the Powder and Burnt River drainages “should expect shortages this coming summer and begin to prepare accordingly.”

The report’s section on Northeast Oregon (Grande Ronde, Powder, Burnt and Imnaha basins) also noted major reservoir water storage levels ranging from 69 percent of average at Phillips Lake to 174 percent of average at Wallowa Lake.

Many other parts of the state were looking especially dry, however. According to NRCS, 32 snow measuring sites with long-term records are experiencing all-time record low snowpack.

“Most of these sites are spread throughout the Cascades. However, as the dry and warm conditions have continued, records have spread eastward in the state,” Oviatt said. “These record lows have not been observed since the SNOTEL monitoring network was installed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.”

The latest information on Oregon’s streamflow forecasts can be found in the March Water Supply Outlook Report, available on the NRCS Snow Survey website at www.or.nrcs.usda.gov/snow. NRCS publishes six monthly Oregon Water Supply Outlook Reports between Jan. 1 and June 1 every year.