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We need a big drink (of rainwater) in Oregon

Your lawn, your trees, they need water. Portland is more than 7 inches off the mark for average rainfall.

PORTLAND, Ore. — We need a drink -- take that how you like -- no judging here.  But actually it's water we're short on.

I thought we had been a little dry for the water year which runs October 1 through September 30th.  Turns out we're 7.58 inches below average in that span as of last Sunday night. 

Credit: KGW Weather

And a little more digging shows that we've actually been off the mark for most of the last thirty months. Here's a look at water year stats over the last decade.

Credit: KGW Weather

This past January was pretty wet, our wettest month in nearly 3 years. But averaged out over time, that's amounting to a little blip on the radar.  With that exception, every month for our current water year has been below, and in most cases well below average for rainfall.

As of last week, a good chunk of Oregon is considered in Moderate Drought and the spring outlook from the Climate Prediction Center doesn't show much change.  If anything, more areas may slide into drought conditions.

It gets harder to make up that kind of rainfall as we get deeper into spring, and there's no sign right now that we will. 

In the short term, our change to cooler wetter weather then, this week anyway, should be welcome.

Here's a look at the rainfall potential for the week ahead.

Credit: KGW Weather
Rainfall potential through Sunday, March 29

Chris McGinness: KGW meteorologist & traffic reporter. Got a story idea or a great photo you want to share? Email me: cmcginness@kgw.com or reach out on facebook , twittter , & Instagram. 

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