Oregon's received more rainfall and snowfall over the last month, thanks to a La Niña winter.

The state's climatologist says that additional precipitation is helping to improve local drought conditions. But, it hasn't come down evenly across Oregon.

The latest look at the US Drought Monitor shows 42% of Oregon is under extreme drought and around 16% is under the worst level of drought. This is an improvement from the beginning of November 2021, 72% of Oregon was under extreme drought at the beginning of November 2021. A quarter of the state was also under the worst level of drought.

The image on the left is from the beginning of November 2021, when 72% of the state was under extreme drought.

The concern now for local climatologists is how little relief central Oregon is receiving, where the majority is still under the worst level of drought.

"Northwest Oregon, so Portland and Salem, have received above-average precipitation for this wet season," said Larry O'Neill, Oregon's state climatologist. "Most of the rest of the state has not. So, we are going to be looking for more rain, widespread rain, all throughout the state."

Heavy snowfall earlier in January also helped build regional snowpack. Climatologists said snowpack is crucial because the melt-off supplies local water reservoirs during drier months.

Currently, the lower Columbia, Willamette, and Deschutes basin all have above-average snowpack levels.

However, climatologists said we'll still need more to avoid severe drought this summer. Around April is when forecasters and climatologists have a better sense of how much or how little snowpack we'll have to benefit the summer months.