Southwest Washington experienced a drier-than-usual January but is not experiencing drought conditions, according to the National Weather Service.
“For Washington state as a whole, the only areas that are in drought (are near) the Olympic mountains,” said David Bishop, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Portland office.
Portland International Airport recorded 2.17 inches of precipitation from Jan. 1 to Jan. 28. During the same time period from 1991 to 2020, the airport recorded an average of 4.59 inches of precipitation.
“We’re down 2.42 inches, so we’re definitely running a deficit,” Bishop said. “But this is not the driest winter that we’ve ever had.”
The driest January ever recorded at the airport came in 1985, which had 0.06 inch of precipitation, Bishop said.
As of Tuesday, the Lower Columbia region’s snowpack index was 102, that is, 2 percent higher than its median from 1991 to 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Most areas of the state are running at 100 percent or just shy of it,” Bishop said. “The Lower Columbia and Klickitat (areas) are running a little wetter.”
The National Weather Service is predicting precipitation for most of the Pacific Northwest from late Thursday night through Tuesday.
“The type of precipitation will be elevation-dependent, but below 1,000 feet of elevation will see predominantly rain, although we’re not ruling out the probability of a rain-snow mix,” Bishop said.
The storm will most likely affect the area’s snowpack, he said.
“We probably will see some improvement in snowpack with this system, depending on where it decides to set up and how much it’s going to dump,” he said. “The pattern is progressive for building snowpack.”
