If the rain that fell on Portland earlier this week felt like an old friend you hadn’t seen in a while, that’s for good reason.
Monday’s .22 inches of precipitation was the most rain the National Weather Service has measured in Portland on a single day since March 7. It wasn’t much less than the .39 inches that fell in all of April.
The traditionally wet spring season in the Northwest has this year been anything but, exacerbating fears of a dramatic fire season and creating conflict in some of the state’s hardest hit areas.
More than 90% of the state is considered to be in “severe drought” by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Just over a quarter of Oregon is in “extreme drought.”
Klamath County, in the southern part of the state, is experiencing its driest year in 127 years.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it would not release water this season into the main canal that feeds the bulk of the massive Klamath Reclamation Project, marking a first for the 114-year-old irrigation system.
“This just couldn’t be worse,” Klamath Irrigation District president Ty Kliewer told the Associated Press. “The impacts to our family farms and these rural communities will be off the scale.”
Meanwhile, Oregonians who are still wary after the devastating wildfires that broke records last year are preparing for another fire season that’s shaping up to be worse than most. Some electricity providers have begun preparing to shut off power preemptively to avoid sparking blazes in forests full of dry fuel.
There is some relief on the way — albeit slight and likely brief. Rain is forecast to start falling in the Portland area early Thursday morning with showers lingering into midday.
After that, however, forecasters are calling for clear skies for the foreseeable future with temperatures climbing into the mid-80s by early next week.
-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale
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May 27, 2021 at 10:31AM
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Rain spells short-term relief for Oregon, but water woes continue - OregonLive
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