STATE
Blue Mountain Eagle
A8
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Drought persists in most of Pacifi c Northwest
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM
—
Nearly
three-quarters of the Pacifi c
Northwest remains locked in
drought, climate experts from
Oregon, Washington and Idaho
say.
In the driest areas of south-
ern and central Oregon, irriga-
tors face another year of water
shortages, and fi re districts are
predicting above-normal risk for
wildfi res as early as May.
Britt
Parker,
regional
drought information coordi-
nator for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administra-
tion, said 74% of the Northwest
is currently in drought. Approx-
imately 18% is in “extreme” or
“exceptional” drought, the two
driest categories.
“This refl ects long-term
precipitation defi cits for much
of the interior Northwest,”
Parker said.
It would take 150-200%
above normal precipitation over
the next two months to end
drought conditions in the most
severely impacted areas, accord-
ing to NOAA. Nick Bond,
Washington state climatologist,
said the odds of that happening
are extremely low.
Bond said the region was
expected to benefi t from La
Nina, which typically portends
cooler and wetter weather during
the winter.
However, a ridge of high
pressure that normally parks
itself over the north-central
Pacifi c Ocean was instead closer
to the West Coast, defl ecting
storms and pushing them north.
“That basically dried us out
for that period of January and
February that we’re complain-
ing about,” Bond said.
Even with the recent atmo-
spheric river that brought heavy
been building over the last two
years with the impacts worsen-
ing each summer.
For the last two water years
— from October 2019 through
September 2021 — Oregon
has experienced its third-dri-
est period dating back to 1895.
Eight counties received their
lowest total precipitation on
record, including Sherman,
Wheeler, Jeff erson, Crook,
Wasco, Deschutes, Klamath and
Jackson counties.
About half of all streamfl ow
gauges in Oregon managed by
the U.S. Geological Survey were
recording below-normal fl ows
over the last 45 days, O’Neill
said. Of those, 10% recorded
record low streamfl ows for this
time of year.
Most reservoirs are also aver-
aging 10-30% lower storage
than they were at the same time
last year, foretelling another lean
year for farms and fi sh.
rainfall to northwest Oregon
and Washington, precipitation
did not fall where it was needed
most, farther south and east.
Looking ahead, Bond said
more of the same can be expected
from March through May.
“For Central Oregon and
Southern Idaho, the forecasts are
not nearly as encouraging,” he
said, adding that Mother Nature
“is not always fair.”
Bond did highlight one silver
lining: There is no indication this
spring will be as warm as it was
in 2021. Cooler weather means
mountain snowpack is liable to
stick longer, melting more grad-
ually to replenish streams and
rivers longer into the summer.
“That’s something we’re cer-
tainly going to be keeping an eye
on,” he said.
Oregon
Larry O’Neill, Oregon state
climatologist, said drought has
“We are coming into some
tough times here in Oregon,”
O’Neill said. “Not only are water
supply issues going to become
more acute, but we’re starting to
grow concerned about the gen-
eral dryness of the landscape and
what it means for wildfi re risk.”
Eric Wise, meteorologist
for the Northwest Interagency
Coordination Center, said condi-
tions “certainly have the poten-
tial for a very active (fi re) sea-
son” in Central and Southern
Oregon.
Idaho
David Hoekema, hydrolo-
gist for the Idaho Department of
Water Resources, said drought
conditions in that state vary from
north to south.
Southern Idaho is “defi -
nitely heading in the direction of
drought,” Hoekema said, while
northern Idaho “is doing a little
better at this point.”
Last year, southern Idaho
had the driest spring since 1924,
leaving reservoirs much lower
than normal.
Washington
Of the three states, Wash-
ington appears to be in the best
position to withstand drought in
2022.
Karin Bumbaco, assistant
state climatologist, said over-
all snowpack, precipitation and
reservoir storage in Washington
is faring better than Oregon and
southern Idaho.
“Perhaps we’re the winners
this year in terms of drought,”
Bumbaco said.
Water supplies in western
Washington will likely be in
good shape, save for parts of the
Olympic Peninsula and Dunge-
ness Valley, which have had
low summer streamfl ows due
to lower snowpack the last few
years.
Watching the war from afar
By ZACK DEMARS
The Bulletin
BEND — Ukrainian fl ags are hard to come
by in Bend. But they’re easy enough to make
— a rectangle of yellow and a rectangle of
blue will do.
While Olga Almond would rather travel
to Ukraine to be closer to her family and vol-
unteer to help, fl ight restrictions render that
impossible. Finding the right fabric and stitch-
ing it together to hang outside her Sunriver
house was one of the simplest ways Almond
could fi nd to support her home country from
6,000 miles away.
Almond said this simple gesture has been
meaningful to the friends and family she keeps
in touch with, sending photos back and forth
as they shelter in metro stations, basements
and other bomb shelters across Ukraine.
“They tell me, ‘Thank you so much
because it makes us encouraged,’” Almond
said, “because we know all (the) world today
thinks about our situation.”
Almond and others in Central Oregon with
ties to Ukraine are watching with fear, anger
and nervous anticipation for loved ones in
the country as Russian military forces con-
tinue the invasion of the country launched last
week.
Almond moved from Dnipro, a central
Ukrainian city of just under a million resi-
dents, to Oregon in 2008. But her two daugh-
ters, 45 and 39, and two grandchildren, 22 and
3, are still in the country.
“This is hard for me,” Almond said. “I cry
every day.”
Messages from her older daughter have
been few and far between. Almond last heard
that she was safe and planned to stay in the
country, as her 22-year-old grandson can’t
leave under restrictions in place, which pre-
vent men of fi ghting-age from evacuating in
case they’re needed to join the battle.
Almond’s younger daughter, however,
hopes to leave the country through Poland.
Once there, the family is hopeful her appli-
cation for U.S. permanent residence — an
application that’s been pending for nine years
— will help her get to the U.S.
“I think there’s a good chance if she can
get to Poland that we’ll be able to get her and
the grandson here,” said Tom Almond, Olga’s
husband.
But in the interim, the family waits and
prays. Olga Almond’s phone buzzes fre-
quently, with updates coming from family
in Dnipro, friends in Kyiv and others shar-
ing information through the messaging app
Telegram.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Bend residents rally in support of peace in Ukraine in downtown Bend on Tuesday, March 1.
Bend crowd rallies for peace in Ukraine
By ZACK DEMARS
The Bulletin
BEND — Zenia Kuzma
didn’t know if anyone would
appreciate the blue and yel-
low ribbons she hung in Drake
Park last week, but she felt she
had to fi nd a way to show sup-
port for the people of Ukraine,
who were facing an unprece-
dented struggle halfway around
the world.
“I was feeling very, very
lonely,” Kuzma, 65, told The
Bulletin on Tuesday, March 1.
“It’s really about freedom.”
But that feeling changed
Tuesday, when between 75 and
100 people joined in downtown
Bend for a rally in support of the
besieged country, draped in the
yellow and blue of Ukraine’s
fl ag and following hundreds
of thousands across the world
who’ve protested the invasion
since it began last week.
Among those speaking was
Kuzma, who was born in the
U.S. but whose parents came to
the country from Ukraine. She
carried a sheaf of wheat to sym-
FEEL THE SPEED,
EVEN AT PEAK TIMES.
bolize Ukraine’s signifi cance as
the “breadbasket of Europe,”
producing over a tenth of the
world’s wheat. She told the
crowd she was glad her parents
weren’t alive to see the destruc-
tion Ukraine was facing, but
that she was grateful to see the
group showing its support.
“I’m so glad that there’s
support here,” she told the
crowd. “I really, really want to
thank you.”
Those gathered, organized
by the Vocal Seniority, a social
justice group in Bend, waved
yellow and blue signs at pass-
ing cars, many of which
honked back in support. Some
of the signs had supportive
messages calling for “Glory to
Ukraine,” others with insults
directed at Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
Roby Basman held a
hand-drawn sign that read
“Verdedig Oekraine,” Dutch
for “defend Ukraine.”
The 21-year-old Basman,
one of the rally’s youngest
attendees, was visiting fam-
ily in Bend from her home in
Deventer, Netherlands. Fear-
ful of the confl ict in Ukraine,
she joined the rally even while
far from home.
“Everybody in Europe is
kind of worried, because it’s
right on the doorstep,” Bas-
man told The Bulletin. “Obvi-
ously I just hope that (Putin)
doesn’t start a world war or
something, and it doesn’t get
any further than this, because
he’s already damaged enough
in my opinion.”
Bend resident Doug Wat-
son, 75, waved a sign that
read “Putin is a war criminal”
at cars passing on Wall Street.
He said he worried about how
Putin’s invasion could esca-
late to even more confl ict.
“For us to just turn the
other cheek and just let it hap-
pen, that’s not necessarily
going to be a solution,” Wat-
son said. “It’s really a matter
of an autocrat getting away
with doing what he thinks he
can get away with. And if the
world gets together, I think
we can make it very painful
for him.”
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
Olga Almond, shown at her Sunriver home in
front of a Ukrainian fl ag that she made, holds
a photo of her daughter, Sasha Molodchy, and
grandson, Temur Molodchy, who live in Dni-
pro, Ukraine.
“I try (to) prepare myself for (a) really bad
thing,” Olga Almond said, pausing as she sti-
fl ed back tears. “Like all (women are) feeling
about their kids.”
Bend resident Olesya Deuchar is also ner-
vously waiting for messages from family and
friends in the region.
Deuchar lived in Russia, but frequently
traveled to and went to college in Ukraine,
where her mother was born. Her mother was
in the country, picking up some visa docu-
ments to come to the U.S. when war broke out
last week.
“Basically feeling helpless and worried
about my family,” Deuchar said.
“I can only imagine what they feel. I’m
angry and helpless basically, at the whole
situation.”
Deuchar fears for her mother’s safety. So
far, she’s been able to remain in contact with
loved ones in Ukraine. A cousin was able to
bring his family to the country’s western side
before returning to Kyiv to fi ght the invasion.
A friend from college was able to get west to
somewhere safer, too — though “there are no
safe zones now,” she said.
But alongside the fear and frustration,
Deuchar has felt anger.
“I’m angry that, in this century, with all the
advanced technologies, people are still ani-
mals,” Deuchar said of the invasion.
For Almond and Deuchar, the Ukrainian
resistance against the invasion — a stronger
resistance than the Russian military seems to
have anticipated, analysts have observed — is
a reason for some measure of optimism.
“I’m optimistic,” Deuchar said.
“I know that they do not give up; every-
body’s determined to fi ght to the end. That’s
not just the soldiers, that’s regular people.”
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