Snow still covers hiking trails in Cascades, Olympics
|
Not by Fire but by Ice THE NEXT ICE AGE - NOW! |
|
|
Discover
What Killed the Dinosaurs . . . and Why it Could Soon Kill Us |
|
| BACK TO HOME PAGE | |
|
.. . Snow still covers hiking trails in Cascades, Olympics _____________________________ |
|
|
18 Jul 08 - In the Olympic National Park, all trails above 5,000 feet are covered with snow. In the Skykomish area of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, 35 of 40 trails are closed, park officials said. At Mount Rainier, only five groups have attempted the scenic, 93-mile Wonderland Trail this year, and all have turned back because of snow. Usually by late July, hundreds have made the loop around the mountain, said park ranger Daniel Keebler. Snowpack levels in the Cascades and Olympics are at their highest since 1999, according to data from the National Weather and Climate Center. (The Cascade snowpack reached record levels in 1999.) Snowpack levels at Paradise measured 150 percent of average in June. Levels at the White River area, by Sunrise, were about 125 percent of normal. The average temperature in the state this spring was 45.5 degrees, according to the office of the state climatologist, Phil Mote. "There was an unusually cool spring, so [the snow] lingered," Mote said. "It takes a long time to melt that amount of snow."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008058805_snowpack18m.html
|
| |