The Willamette valley is said to be similar to the Hallertau, so it is a little more moderate than the Yakima valley. They use drip irrigation on the hops in Yakima, don't know about the Willamette. Somewhere I read that in general, lower AA aroma hops do well in the Willamette, and high AA hops in Yakima.
A few years back there was a study that correlated lower AA in Saaz hops to hotter summers. They are having a very hot summer in the hop growing areas of Europe this year. Wonder if I will be getting 3% or less Saaz in the next order?