Dry November provokes drought conditions

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – When you wrap up November with 1.52 inches of rain and the average is a little over 5.63 inches, some problems may arise.

We ended November 2019 as the fifth driest November on record. It was a dry Fall month for what is typically the wettest on average.

This may be upsetting because we made some progress in October and early November with some rainy days as far as concerns of drought. In fact, we were in the clear for a brief while until we hit this roadblock of November. With November being a lackluster month in the rain category, we are now back to drought conditions.

Right now, 55% of the state is sitting at an abnormally dry level that is depicted by the yellow. With December being our second wettest month on average, we are hoping for some good snowpack and valley rain to help bring more water to the region. You may remember 2015 when we had the wettest December on record, with more than 15 inches of rain. That was nearly 10 inches more than the average, which dated back to 1940.

That will likely not happen, but we are striving for some good mountain snow and valley rain to keep us in the right ballpark heading through our wet time of the year.