Snow Pack Trouble & Fall Out From Bird Flu

Snow Pack Trouble & Fall Out From Bird Flu

Snow Pack Trouble & Fall Out From Bird Flu. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

We've reported recently that most of the snow pack in the west has already melted and new reports from Washington and Oregon confirm that. Julie Koeberle, Snow Hydrologist with the NRCS Oregon Snow Survey tell us just how bad it is.

KOEBERLE: Less now that we had last year for sure. This is a record low for us actually. We haven't had a statewide snow pack this low since we've been measuring snow. As of today at our automated weather stations that measure the snow pack we only have five in the whole state, out of about 82 sites, that have any snow left at all. It's just been an unusual year in that in some areas we didn't really see a snow pack accumulate.

Washington State's snow pack level is now averaging just 17 percent of normal.

The recent outbreaks of avian influenza have decimated flocks of chickens and turkeys and a recent report showed that even then there should be plenty of poultry for the plate. Now were are getting reports that many supermarkets are stocking up on eggs due to short supplies. The price of eggs has risen dramatically since a month ago, up by almost 17%. Eggs used for processing have jumped by 63% which could have a factor on products that contain egg. The price for boneless, skinless chicken has risen about 10 percent while frozen chicken is up about 3%. So far the supply and price for turkey has not been affected very much.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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