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Officials are hoping Medford’s recent bout of wet weather will help boost a drier-than-usual water year. As of Friday morning, a single inch of rain was all that had fallen in Medford since the start of the water year, which began the first week of October. That amount, according to the National Weather Service, is less than half of what it should be by now. The expected amount by the end of the eighth week of the water year is 3.21 inches, said meteorologist John Lovegrove. But a new system moving in Monday likely will significantly boost rainfall numbers. “That’s going to be one of our heavier rainfalls so far,” Lovegrove said. He said that a high-pressure ridge over Medford is mostly responsible for the unusually dry season. That ridge drives the storm-bringing jet stream around, rather than into, the Rogue Valley, sending the stream and the hope of precipitation northward. “That’s just the variability of weather,” Lovegrove said. “We really can’t answer why that high pressure ridge was here.” The first measurable amount of rain in Medford began falling Wednesday, bringing two-fifths of an inch through midnight Thursday, but Monday’s pending storm system is expected to bring a third to a half of an inch on its own. Surrounding areas were hit with more extreme weather, including a winter storm that blew over northern Klamath and Lake counties and extended into Douglas and Jackson counties. Crater Lake National Park and the rest of the southern Cascades were blanketed with snow. Lovegrove said that rain in the lower, warmer elevations and snow in the higher elevations both contribute to the viability of the water supply during Southern Oregon’s long and increasingly dry summers. “It also greatly helps if the mountains receive snow and that slowly melts off and helps spread the influx of water into the rivers over several months, so it doesn’t come rushing in all at once,” he said. The weather service is also keeping an eye on the impact of rain on the fire scars in Jackson and Josephine counties. It coordinates with land management agencies to monitor sloped areas in the Chetco Bar, Klondike and Eclipse fires, especially those that burned the hottest. Soil left there often absorbs water poorly, increasing the risk of landslides as runoff carries debris downslope with it. Lovegrove said that the areas that the agency is monitoring are too far away from cities and major roads to be considered a threat to structures if the rain did start to loosen debris. “It’s a concern, but not a real huge concern,” he said. Hopeful snow recreationists, meanwhile, have their eye on Mount Ashland, now sporting a fresh covering of white ranging from a couple of inches to more than a foot in depth. “We would open today if we could,” said Hiram Towle, general manager of the resort. Ski Patrol, however, needs more time to mark off boundaries with signage, he said. The resort’s target date to open is Dec. 8. But if the coming week brings enough snow, Towle said, lifts may begin running the day of the Snow Stomp, which is Saturday, Dec. 1. They’re cautiously optimistic for now. “We have a saying — ‘Believe it when you ski it,’” he said. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Kaylee Tornay at [email protected] or 541-776-4497. Follow her on Twitter @ka_tornay.