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Low Snowpack may Spell Trouble by Staff Corvallis Gazette-Times, May 5, 2004

BEND -- Wholesale power rates may be higher this fall thanks to Oregon's fast-evaporating snowpack and low river levels.

Those conditions could leave hydroelectric plants unable to produce much power, according to a spokesman from the Bonneville Power Administration. Also, low flows in the region's rivers could tax fish and habitat restoration efforts.

Surveys around the state have showed that snowpack levels are well below a 30-year average.

Warm temperatures combined with a lack of storms this spring left the mountains with the amount of snow they typically have in June, said Jon Lea, hydrologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.