Across the Northwest, a record warm fall and lack of snowpack going into the winter is putting more drought pressure on Oregon, Idaho, Washington and western Montana.
Despite record rain in western Washington recently, and earlier this year in central and southern Oregon, the showers are filling up already overdrawn reservoirs in many areas, scientists said on Monday at an online drought and climate outlook meeting hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Snowpack in the region and in the Cascade Range, acting as a reservoir of its own for summer months when there’s little rain and many communities rely on snowmelt, is simply not piling up…