NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Winter storms boost Oregon snowpack
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
Oregon’s snowpack is getting
a much-needed boost statewide,
thanks to a recent wave of winter
storms that since the beginning
of February have dumped several
feet of new snow in the Cascade
Range, including 3 feet on Mount
Hood and 2 feet near Crater Lake
National Park.
The entire state has seen a 20
to 30 percent bump in snowpack
and 2 to 3 times the normal pre-
cipitation since Feb. 1, said Julie
Koeberle, a hydrologist with the
USDA Natural Resource Conser-
vation Service.
That is contrary to the long-
term weather forecast, which
called for warmer and drier condi-
tions across the Pacific Northwest.
“I’m not sure we saw this
increase coming,” Koeberle said.
“It was really a pleasant surprise.”
As of Feb. 15, Oregon’s total
snowpack was 93 percent of aver-
age, compared with 73 percent at
the end of January and a paltry 40
percent at this time last year.
Snowpack is critical to the
state’s farmers and ranchers, many
of whom rely on summer snowmelt
to replenish the rivers, streams and
groundwater that feed the state’s
irrigation systems.
Eastern Oregon is well ahead
of the curve, with basins rang-
ing between 114 and 132 percent
of snow-water equivalent — that
The Register-Guard via AP/Andy Nelson, File
In this Feb. 13, 2019, file photo, a snowboarder carves a turn while skiing at Willamette Pass Ski Area about 30
miles east of Oakridge.
is, the amount of water in snow
available to replenish streams and
reservoirs.
Despite more snow falling in
the Cascades, Western Oregon
still has some catching up to do,
especially in the Hood, Sandy and
Lower Deschutes basins, at 77 per-
cent of average, and in the Willa-
mette Basin, at 83 percent of aver-
age snowpack.
The Rogue and Umpqua basins
have climbed to 91 percent of aver-
age, and 96 percent in the Klam-
ath Basin.
“We’d like to see these storms
continue,” Koeberle said. “If that
does not happen, the best-case
scenario would be to preserve the
snowpack we just gained.”
The good news is that more
snow and rain is expected through
the weekend across Oregon, even
with the arrival of a weak El Nino
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Very cold with
clouds and sun
A passing
afternoon shower
Cloudy with snow
showers
Cold with a little
snow at times
Cold with sunny
intervals
29° 16°
39° 29°
34° 19°
41° 31°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
39° 28°
26° 14°
32° 19°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
41° 27°
30° 18°
36° 20°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
47/33
27/15
38/17
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
29/18
Lewiston
47/32
33/20
Astoria
47/34
Pullman
Yakima 36/19
44/29
33/16
Portland
Hermiston
46/30
The Dalles 34/19
Salem
Corvallis
45/29
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
32/13
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
44/28
31/14
32/14
Ontario
41/21
Caldwell
Burns
38°
29°
50°
29°
67° (1982) 15° (2018)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
46/29
0.07"
1.47"
0.69"
3.00"
1.61"
1.97"
WINDS (in mph)
39/18
30/9
0.18"
1.72"
0.82"
3.79"
2.20"
2.20"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 29/9
47/30
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
29/16
39/25
37°
25°
48°
30°
69° (1982) 7° (1957)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
45/30
Aberdeen
30/14
33/20
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
45/34
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
45/23
32/8
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
High 89° in Winter Haven, Fla. Low -29° in Malta, Mont.
6:48 a.m.
5:30 p.m.
8:26 p.m.
8:17 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
Feb 26
Mar 6
Mar 14
Mar 20
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
Oregon man with medical
marijuana gets 12 years
in Mississippi prison
for drifting over a highway line, which Bea-
dle disputes.
Woman sentenced to 12 years
for death of cyclist
BEND (AP) — An Oregon woman was
sentenced to more than 12 years in prison
for hitting and killing a cyclist while driving
under the influence.
KTVZ-TV reports Deschutes County
Circuit Judge Michael Adler sentenced
Shantel Witt, 42, on Tuesday, telling the
court that it was the “most extreme reckless
endangerment case” he had ever seen.
Witt was convicted earlier this month of
first-degree manslaughter and other charges
for the death of Marika Stone, 38.
The Bend dentist was riding with two
friends east of the city when Witt slammed
into her in December 2017.
Prosecutors say Witt was on nearly a
dozen prescription drugs, including her
dog’s anxiety pills, at the time of the crash.
Witt apologized in court, telling Stone’s
family that she hopes they can forgive her.
110s
high
low
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regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
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52 weeks
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13 weeks
Livestock Indemnity Pro-
gram payments at 75 per-
cent of market value. There
is no cap on the amount of
money a single producer can
receive, Richter said.
The blizzard is a quali-
fying event and the Yakima
County FSA Committee is
documenting it, she said.
Five inches of snow
were forecast, but the storm
dumped 18 to 24 inches and
brought daylong winds of 30
to 50 mph with gusts up to
80 mph. The dairies, most of
which were on a ridge north
of town, tried to protect
cows by stacking hay bales
and moving cows into milk-
ing parlors.
Cows became too cold
and huddled in corners of
pens. Most died from inju-
ries and some from cold
exposure,
said
Gerald
Baron, executive director of
Save Family Farming.
BRIEFLY
CANTON, Miss. (AP) — An Oregon
man has been sentenced to 12 years in
prison in Mississippi for possessing medical
marijuana.
The Clarion Ledger reports Patrick Bea-
dle, 46, was originally convicted of drug
trafficking and sentenced to eight years in
prison without parole.
Beadle’s attorney, Cynthia Stewart, said
Tuesday that a judge vacated the traffick-
ing conviction and has let Beadle instead
plead guilty to drug possession. The new
12-year sentence comes with the possibility
of parole after three years.
Beadle says the marijuana was for his
chronic knee pain. Prosecutors have said the
only evidence that could point to drug traf-
ficking was the amount of marijuana, which
totaled nearly three pounds.
The drugs were discovered when a Mis-
sissippi deputy pulled Beadle over in 2017
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
showers t-storms
SUNNYSIDE,
Wash.
— Most of the carcasses of
1,810 dairy cows that died
in a Feb. 9 blizzard have
been dealt with but owners
will be coping with financial
losses for months to come.
“It will take some guys
months to recover because
some of them were already
operating at break-even,”
said Steve George, Yakima
area issues manager for the
Washington State Dairy
Federation. He said he hasn’t
heard of any going out of
business, yet.
An initial estimate was
1,677 dead cows but the final
tally is 1,810 with probably
several hundred others being
sold for beef because of fro-
zen udders and extremities,
George said. Effects from
that can take up to a month
to be known, he said.
At $2,000 per head, total
loss will be around $4 mil-
lion, and that doesn’t count
lost milk production.
George said he doesn’t
know of anyone tallying
lost milk production. He
said it will be months before
some of the dairies are able
to afford replacement cows
since all operate with loans
and didn’t have this type of
event budgeted.
Some 13 to 15 dairies
near Sunnyside lost cows,
with the most at one dairy
being about 600, he said.
Seven of the dairies gave
notice of loss to the USDA
Farm Service Agency office
in Yakima as of Feb. 15 and
the rest are expected to soon,
said Gerri Richter, FSA pro-
gram specialist in Spokane.
Producers must give such
notice within 30 days of loss
to prepare to apply for FSA
SW 7-14
SSW 7-14
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
-0s
By DAN WHEAT
EO Media Group
Fri.
N 4-8
WNW 6-12
NATIONAL EXTREMES
-10s
Dairies deal with $4 million
cattle losses after blizzard
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
climate pattern that typically indi-
cates warm and dry weather in the
region.
Mike Halpert, deputy director
of the National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration’s Climate
Prediction Center, said there is a
55 percent chance El Nino condi-
tions will continue through spring.
However, he added that the
pattern is expected to be weak,
“meaning we do not expect signif-
icant global impacts through the
remainder of winter and into the
spring.”
Even in El Nino, David Bishop,
meteorologist with the National
Weather Service in Portland, said
that does not necessarily exclude
more winter weather.
“Just because we are in a weak
El Nino does not mean that we
cannot get snow, or cannot get
(low) temperatures,” Bishop said.
Koeberle, with the NRCS,
said Oregon usually reaches peak
snow season in late March or early
April, depending on the elevation.
Last year, unseasonably warm
weather caused snow to melt ear-
lier than usual, exacerbating the
summer drought.
“If we do end up losing our
snow early, then we could hope for
spring rainfall to help offset those
impacts,” Koeberle said.
As long as the snow continues
to fly, Koeberle said water supplies
should look improved for sum-
mer 2019. The most recent Oregon
Basin Outlook Report, released
on Feb. 1, predicted stream flows
from 70 to 90 percent of normal
statewide, and reservoirs storing
between 63 and 93 percent of aver-
age. The NRCS will issue its next
report on March 1.
“We do have another month
and a half before the typical peak
of our snow season,” Koeberle
said. “At least right now, the trend
is going up and hopefully that will
continue.”
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