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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2022
Nathan Howard/AP Photo
The lake bed of the Wickiup Reservoir near La Pine in September.
Drought to worsen in Oregon this year
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Climate scientists in
the Pacifi c Northwest warned Thursday
that much of Oregon and parts of Idaho
can expect even tougher drought condi-
tions this summer than in the previous two
years, which already featured dwindling res-
ervoirs, explosive wildfi res and deep cuts to
agricultural irrigation.
At a news conference hosted by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration, water and climate experts from
Oregon, Washington and Idaho said parts
of the region should prepare now for severe
drought, wildfi res and record-low stream
fl ows that will hurt salmon and other frag-
ile species.
Drought covers 74% of the Pacifi c North-
west and nearly 20% is in extreme or excep-
tional drought, according to the U.S. Drought
Monitor. An unusual ridge of high pressure
off the West Coast scuttled storms in Janu-
ary and February that the region normally
counts on to replenish water levels and build
up a snowpack that feeds streams and rivers
in later months, the experts said.
“This year we’re doing quite a bit worse
than we were last year at this time, so one
of the points is to make everyone aware that
we’re going into some tough times in Ore-
gon this summer,” said Larry O’Neill, Ore-
gon’s state climatologist. “Right now, we’re
very worried about this region, about the
adversity of impacts we’re going to experi-
ence this year.”
The predictions are in line with dire warn-
ings about climate change-induced drought
and extreme heat across the American West.
A 22-year megadrought deepened so
much last year that the broader region is now
in the driest spell in at least 1,200 years — a
worst-case climate change scenario playing
out in real time, a study found last month.
The study calculated that 42% of this mega-
drought can be attributed to human-caused
climate change.
In the Pacifi c Northwest, the worst impacts
from the drought this summer will be felt in
Oregon, which missed out on critical winter
storms that would normally moisten central
and southern Oregon and southern Idaho.
Scientists are debating the cause of the shift
in the weather pattern and some believe a
warming northern Pacifi c Ocean could be
part of the cause, said O’Neill.
“Climate change may be changing this
storm track, but there is yet no consensus on
how it is aff ecting the Pacifi c Northwest,” he
said.
The National Interagency Fire Cen-
ter recently designated all of central Ore-
gon as “above normal” for fi re danger start-
ing in May — one of the earliest starts of
fi re season in the state ever. Most of cen-
tral and Eastern Oregon is in exceptional
or extreme drought, according to the U.S.
Drought Monitor, and parts of eastern Wash-
ington and western and southern Idaho are in
severe drought.
Seven counties in central Oregon are
experiencing the driest two-year period
since the start of record-keeping 127 years
ago. Overall, Oregon is experiencing its
third-driest two-year period since 1895, the
experts said.
Most reservoirs in Oregon are 10% to
30% lower than where they were at this time
last year and some are at historic lows, sig-
naling serious problems for irrigators who
rely on them to water their crops.
Southern Idaho is also experiencing
severe drought and a major reservoir in the
Boise Basin has below average water supply,
said David Hoekema of the Idaho Depart-
ment of Water Resources.
“It takes more than just an average year
to recover and it doesn’t appear that we’re
going to have an average year,” he said. “At
this point, we expect southern Idaho to con-
tinue in drought … and we could also see
drought intensify.”
Some of Oregon’s driest areas are already
running into trouble.
After a water crisis last summer that
left dozens of homes with no water, more
domestic wells in southern Oregon’s Klam-
ath Basin are running dry. State water mon-
itors have measured a troubling drop in the
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underground aquifer that wasn’t replenished
by winter precipitation, said Ivan Gall, fi eld
services division administrator for the Ore-
gon Water Resources Department.
His agency has received complaints of 16
domestic wells that have run dry since Jan.
1 and is scrambling to fi gure out how many
more wells might go dry this summer in a
cascading crisis, he said. Farming season in
the agricultural powerhouse began Tuesday.
Last summer, farmers and ranchers in
the basin didn’t receive any water from a
massive federally owned irrigation project
because of drought conditions and irrigators
instead pumped much more water than usual
from the underground aquifer to stay afl oat,
Gall said.
The tension over water gained national
attention when, for a brief period, anti-gov-
ernment activists camped out at the irriga-
tion canal and threatened to open the water
valves in violation of federal law.
“We’re going to start this year’s pumping
season 10 feet lower than we did last sea-
son, which is a problem,” said Gall, who is
already fi elding calls from worried water
users. “I think it’s going to be another rough
water year in the Klamath Basin.”
HERITAGE SQUARE HOUSING
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Please join us for an informative and engaging
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