Southwest Washington skilled a drier-than-usual January however will not be experiencing drought situations, in accordance with the Nationwide Climate Service.
“For Washington state as a whole, the only areas that are in drought (are near) the Olympic mountains,” mentioned David Bishop, a meteorologist for the Nationwide Climate Service’s Portland workplace.
Portland Worldwide Airport recorded 2.17 inches of precipitation from Jan. 1 to Jan. 28. Throughout the identical time interval from 1991 to 2020, the airport recorded a median of 4.59 inches of precipitation.
“We’re down 2.42 inches, so we’re definitely running a deficit,” Bishop mentioned. “But this is not the driest winter that we’ve ever had.”
The driest January ever recorded on the airport got here in 1985, which had 0.06 inch of precipitation, Bishop mentioned.
As of Tuesday, the Decrease Columbia area’s snowpack index was 102, that’s, 2 p.c increased than its median from 1991 to 2020, in accordance with the U.S. Division of Agriculture.
“Most areas of the state are running at 100 percent or just shy of it,” Bishop mentioned. “The Lower Columbia and Klickitat (areas) are running a little wetter.”
The Nationwide Climate Service is predicting precipitation for many of the Pacific Northwest from late Thursday night time via 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 mentioned.
The storm will almost certainly have an effect on the world’s snowpack, he mentioned.
“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 mentioned. “The pattern is progressive for building snowpack.”