News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Slip slidin' away in Sisters Country...
Mother Nature keeps wrong-footing Sisters Country.
No sooner do we get used to temperatures in the 50s and clear blue skies - those glorious hints of balmy days to come - than she throws a winter storm our way, complete with car wrecks and highway closures.
The Sisters Ranger District recorded some 4.5 inches of snow on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, and the snowfall was much heavier in the mountains. So heavy, in fact, that snow slides closed Highway 20 in the vicinity of Santiam Pass for hours on Wednesday.
Two cars were trapped between slides. Snow blowers eventually got to the stranded motorists, and there were no injuries. It was, however, a reminder that a trip across the pass at this time of year can turn into an unpleasant adventure.
While the storm made a mess of travel in Sisters Country, a couple feet of new snow in the Cascades is a welcome addition to a snowpack that has lagged behind averages for much of the winter.
"We've made up a lot of ground," said Jeremy Giffin, of the Deschutes County Watermaster's Office.
Giffin said that the most recent storm put the Central Oregon Cascades snowpack at 99 percent of seasonal averages for snowfall and 96 percent of average overall precipitation.
As of February 1, that snowpack was at 69 percent and had only climbed to 73 percent at the beginning of this month.
Giffin said it's been a "really unique year. Outside two or three big storms, it could have been an extraordinarily dry drought year."
As it is, with a week of precipitation ahead, Giffin said, "I would expect to be at or above normal by the beginning of irrigation season."
(That's region-wide, Giffin noted. The Three Sisters Irrigation District has already turned on the spigot locally.)
Temperatures are warming through the week, but the sun will likely hide its face. There is a chance of rain every day through Sunday. And such is spring in Sisters Country.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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