The Latest: After hard winter, Oregon snowpack rebounds

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Latest on Oregon Snowpack (all times local):

The latest on Oregon’s snowpack:

12:30 p.m.

The statewide snowpack for Oregon is 138 per cent of normal after a harsh winter that featured plenty of snow and heavy rainfall.

The Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service released numbers Tuesday that also show above-average precipitation statewide.

The last time Oregon’s snowpack was well above normal on March 1 was in 2008, when it was 157 per cent of normal.

Last year, Oregon’s snowpack was 94 per cent of normal.

Scott Oviatt, a hydrologist with the USDA, says snow accumulation in February was twice the normal amount at many monitoring locations.

The combined news is a boon for farmers who have struggled with drought recently in much of the state.