Posted by
Chris Field on Friday, July 18, 2008 1:30:11 PM
I love Seattle. I was born and raised in Washington State and hope to move back there some day, but I can't help smiling when I
read that the many granolas (and conservative outdoorsmen) can't do their usual hiking.
These people, most of whom likely buy into or peddle global warming hysteria, are stuck with hiking trials that are still covered with snow. Two reasons: more snow and, more importantly, a significantly cooler spring.
From the Seattle Times:
Only five groups have attempted Mount Rainier's 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. This is also the time of
year when park officials expect to see scads of day visitors on a
mission to see wildflowers.
But after an unusually cold spring, late seasonal snow is putting a
damper on such plans. Snowpack levels in the Cascades and Olympics are
at their highest since 1999, according to data from the National
Weather and Climate Center.
Visitors to Mount Rainier this weekend will find some trails still
partially covered by snow, rangers say. But the seasonal snowmelt is
under way. The Sunrise and Paradise areas at Mount Rainier are starting
to clear up.
"Most of the day hikes have started to melt out," said Casey Wilson,
a backcountry ranger at Mount Rainier. But the melt is late. Data from
June, the most recent available, showed snowpack levels at Paradise
were 150 percent of average. Levels at the White River area, by
Sunrise, were about 125 percent of normal.
Somehow, I'm sure, the left-wing will blame these cooler temperatures on global warming -- or they'll just ignore it, since it doesn't fit their narrative.