"How much snow did you get?"

That was the question everyone seemed to be asking friends and co-workers Monday as Southern Oregon dug out of the biggest snowstorm in recent memory.

Snow depths varied dramatically across the region — from as little as 2 to 3 inches in Medford to 2 feet and more in some places, according to reports compiled by the National Weather Service in Medford.

"It just shows the variety of micro-climates we have here," said meteorologist Jim Reynolds. "That’s what makes our business so interesting."

Reynolds said snow depth was generally greatest in areas where southwest-facing landforms caught the storm head-on as it moved in from the Pacific Ocean. Clouds dropped their moisture as they rose over mountains, then deposited relatively less snow on northeast facing areas.

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Higher elevations generally had more snow than lower elevations, and areas to the west generally had more snow than areas to the east.

All of those factors combined to produce a wide range of snow depth across relatively small distances. Butte Falls, for example, had just 6 inches of snow, while 33 inches fell at Crater Lake National Park, about 30 miles to the northeast. Jacksonville had about 10 inches, but 20 to 24 inches fell at Siskiyou Summit on Interstate 5, about 25 miles to the southeast.

Across the region, the most snow fell in Siskiyou County, just across the state line in Northern California. Weed recorded 30 to 36 inches; and 24 inches fell at an observation station about two miles south of Mount Shasta City.

Relatively low-lying areas farther west had surprisingly deep snow. As much as 2 feet fell around Williams, at an elevation of 1,900 feet, and 18 inches fell at an observation station two miles east of Grants Pass at 1,680 feet. In the city of Grants Pass, at an elevation of 948 feet, there was only about 3 to 4 inches.

Water content of the snow totaled nearly 2 inches where observers had instruments to measure. At Grants Pass, 1.76 inches of water fell during the three days of Jan. 7, 8 and 9. At Crater Lake, the water content of the snow measured 1.58 inches for the same three days.

Drier weather should help melt some of the low-elevation snow over the next few days. Forecasters were expecting snow showers today and Wednesday, followed by cloudy days through the weekend with highs in the low 40s and cloudy nights with lows in the high 20s .

Reach reporter Bill Kettlerat 776-4492, or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com

Crews gain on outages

Line crews battling snow-caused power outages in Southern Oregon and Northern California for the past 48 hours are gaining on Mother Nature.

Out of the roughly 12,000 residents and businesses who lost power early Saturday morning in Jackson, Josephine and Siskiyou counties, all but 1,130 were back on line Monday evening.

The power company had 43 line crews and 12 tree crews working on the outages Monday.

"We‘ve made a tremendous amount of headway — the large-scale outages are cleaned up," said Monty Mendenhall, regional community manager for Pacific Power.

Most of the remaining outages are scattered throughout Jackson and Josephine counties, he said.

"These are on small tap lines, from half a dozen residents to one individual," he said.

"What’s happening now is the snow is unloading from the trees, dropping on the lower limbs and breaking them," he added.

The result is more limbs falling on power lines.

In Jackson County, excluding the community of Rogue River, 623 residences and businesses were still without power late Monday afternoon, Mendenhall said.

In Josephine County and Rogue River, 509 homes remained in the dark late Monday afternoon.

The nearly 400 outages reported in Siskiyou County were back on line late Monday, he said.

"We’re going to work as long as it takes," Mendenhall said. "We’re anticipating it will be all done this evening."

Most residents reported they were hunkering down in their homes until power was restored.

"We’ve got oil lamps, a little generator — it really wasn’t a problem," said rancher J.B. Roberts, whose remote property west of Sterling Creek was without power on Saturday.

Many of the local residents were helping each other out during the outage, he said.

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com