Steady rain in the south Willamette Valley has helped, but it hasn’t eliminated drought conditions.
Jon Bonk is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He said as of early Wednesday, precipitation in Eugene for the “rain year” since October first is nearly three inches below normal, adding, “If we go back and look at the calendar year as a whole, since January first, we are sitting at 25.03 inches, and that is still about eight and a third inches below normal. So yeah, we’re still in a pretty good precipitation deficit as it sits, but certainly the wet latter half of what we’ve had here in November is starting to help with that.”
Bonk said there may be some mixed snow in the Willamette Valley overnight through Friday. He cautioned that any water pooled on roads and sidewalks the next few nights could freeze into ice.
Brian Richardson with the City of Eugene's Public Works Department said there were about 50 calls for flooded storm drains Wednesday. The clogs were largely caused by leaves that have fallen late this season. He said crews have worked to clear the blockages throughout the day, and scheduled leaf removal also continues in the city.
