Nearly 80% of the Northwest is in a drought this summer, with more than half in a severe or extreme drought, according to a July analysis and September data from the U.S. Drought Monitor at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That’s due in large part to a lack of spring rain. Between April and August, Oregon had its fourth-driest period since record keeping began in 1895, according to Larry O’Neill, Oregon’s state climatologist and an associate professor at Oregon State University’s College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences.

“We got about half of our usual precipitation during that time,” he said.

Despite a wet winter and solid snowpack filling water reservoirs, “spring precipitation is quite important for a lot of the state, and especially for wildfire dange

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