Oregon Hikers

KOIN 6 reports snow is melting on Mt Hood.
I know, you're skeptical, but they have video evidence, in slow motion even.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv7TLW8MlFE

I would not have believed it without the video!

Must be a "slow news" day?

Who's to say it's snow?

That water could have come from anywhere.

I was up skiing yesterday and said to the ski patrol guy that I had never seen it like this. He did say there is allot of snow under the lift so it is dangerous to pass under the lifts. But allot of moraines that snow blows off, have melted out . I wonder about the summer season.

On Mt Rainier the climbing/ranger blog says the mountain is melting out about a month ahead of schedule.

It was really clear day, Jefferson, sisters, and not sure if that was Broken Top just to the right and behind them.

Don Nelsen wrote: ↑

May 11th, 2021, 5:49 pm

Must be a "slow news" day?

Or a "snow news" day.

The snotel at Paradise on Rainier indicates that the snowpack there remains well above the historical average. Not sure why anybody would be suggesting Rainier is melting out ahead of the normal timeline. Snow depth there is 142". Might be a difference between the high alpine climbing areas and the more tree-protected areas lower down where the snotels are.

I was on Adams last week and had scoped pictures of it..

In a decade+ of spring visits this is most peculiar. Down low 4000 to 8000ft is what you'd expect for this time of year, maybe a bit more really.

But up higher the melt was much further along. Lunch counter has ample melted areas. The south face has significant rock bands already melting through and a ton of sun cupping.

Normally April would be good precip and cool temps, but not as cold as winter. You'd get more snow up high and rain down low to melt the lower pack.

But instead intense sun up high whereas more compaction and shade lower, and possibly lower temps due to undercast? Seems to have sustained the lower pack.

Oh no! KGW reports snow is still melting!
But seriously, it seems Laurance* Lake campground is closed again due to excessive snowmelt washing out a road, and while they don't provide a name, I can see from the video that it's Eliot, which has taken out that road several times. They don't even bother with quality repairs on that stretch anymore, just throw down another disposable culvert and spread some gravel and call it good. It's as reliable as the old White River crossing on US35, but the LL road doesn't justify the kind of bridge they finally installed at White River Snowpark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59skCMCCq90

* there's no agreement on how to spell this

Oh no! Now KING5 is reporting that snow is melting on Mt Rainier!
In fact, they say "snow levels are several times lower than normal". I don't even know what that means. If we have 3 ft of snow, and later we have 21 ft of snow, then we have 7 times the snow. But how can we have several times less snow? That suggests there's such a thing as measurable lessness. That's as crazy as saying there's such a thing as measurable coldness or darkness. Anyway, it sounds dire, and I'm sure that's all KING5 is after here, conveying a sense of panic. The sky is falling!

They also say that the rapid snowmelt is changing how the mountain looks faster than authorities can react. I had no idea the NPS responds to changes in the appearance of Rainier. I guess that's a new service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20pmHgsdMUs