Comment on Oregon snowpack fails again to reach normal standard

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s snowpack is below normal again and data shows the state is reaching historically normal levels less often. The Natural Resources Conservation Service shows the state’s snow-water equivalent in the mountains is 72 percent of normal, with the number lower in western Oregon, the Statesman Journal reported Thursday. The state has reached a normal snowpack level only in four of the last 10 years, according to the federal data. “It’s pretty clear that the idea of what’s normal is shifting, and that we’ve just become accustomed to these bad or below average years,” said Kathie Dello, a climate scientist with Oregon State University.