Bend Bulletin: Drought lingers in Central Oregon despite August, September rains
By Michael Kohn
Recent rainfall in Central Oregon has registered well above average over the past six weeks, but that hasn’t made much difference in local drought conditions — most of Central Oregon is moderately dry or is experiencing moderate drought.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of Wednesday, 16% of Deschutes County is in moderate drought with all of Jefferson County in the same category. In Crook County, 19% of the land is categorized as being in severe drought.
The drought remains persistent even though August rainfall was well above average. Cole Evans, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pendleton, said average rainfall in August for Bend is 0.35 inches, but this year the city received 1.5 inches of rain.
“It was the eighth-wettest August for Bend, dating back to 1901,” Evans said.
September is also off to a good start. The monthly normal is 0.31 inches and as of Wednesday the city saw 0.10 inches of rain at the Bend Municipal Airport. West of U.S. Highway 97, several unofficial measurements taken by “citizen scientists” have been 0.9 inch to 1.3 inches for the month so far, the National Weather Service said.
Evans added that there is more rain in the forecast, with half an inch of rain expected Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
“It is a system that has been sitting offshore, off the Pacific Northwest coast, for the past week or so. It’s slowly starting to move its way in finally and it’s dumping all that moisture on top of us,” he said. “(A half inch) would be significant for Central Oregon for this time of year.”
The rain forecast for Wednesday night prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood warning for the region.
Unseasonably wet weather combined with good snowpack over the past two winters is helping to keep reservoir levels high. Wickiup Reservoir on the Upper Deschutes is currently 36% full at 72,941 acre-feet. That is nearly 12,000 acre-feet higher than its average level for this time of year. It is also roughly 20,000 acre-feet higher than the same period a year ago.
“Conditions in the river are more favorable this year and it appears that we are going to have a fairly decent carryover (to next year),” said Josh Bailey, general manager for North Unit Irrigation District, the district that controls the flow of water from Wickiup Reservoir.
Bailey says another factor keeping reservoir levels high is low demand for water from farmers due to weak commodity prices. When prices for wheat, hay, alfalfa and other crops are low, many farmers simply keep fields fallow rather than selling at or below the cost of production.
“Farmers are not able to take advantage of the water. That is a big driver,” said Bailey.
Read more at: https://bendbulletin.com/2025/09/10/drought-lingers-in-central-oregon-despite-august-september-rains/
