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Rainier’s slopes shine white even in summer [/size]
JEFFREY P. MAYOR; The News Tribune
Published: July 1st, 2006 01:00 AM
With temperatures in the 80s, it’s hard to think about snow.
Yet the season for measuring the snowfall at Mount Rainier National Park ended Friday, and its Paradise area received 722 inches since July 1, 2005. That translates into 60.17 feet.
Just how deep is that? You would need 211/2 of the bats used by the Seattle Mariniers’ Ichiro Suzuki stacked end to end to equal 722 inches. To put it on a human scale, Seattle Sonics teammates Robert Swift, Johan Petro and Mikki Moore all stand 7 feet tall. If you stack the men three times, you might find a head sticking above the snow.
Still there: Despite all the warm weather in the past two weeks, a lot of snow remains at Paradise. As of Friday, there was 34 inches of it at the measuring station, according to the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center.
Because of that, park officials report all the trails at Paradise covered with snow. Early wildflowers can be found in a few exposed areas. Trails are free of snow at the lower elevations.
The records: The lowest snowfall measured at Paradise was 313 inches in the winter of 1939-40. The record high was the 1,122 inches that fell in the winter of 1971-72. No totals were available for nine winters from 1943 to 1954 because the road to Paradise was closed or records are unavailable.
The top 25: This winter’s total ranks 21st among the snowfalls recorded since the winter of 1920-21.
Online: Review past snowfalls at
www.nps.gov/mora/current/weather.htm#snowfall
.
The past decade
Year Snowfall in inches
1996-97 938
1997-98 674
1998-99 1,032.5
1999-00 753
2000-01 491
2001-02 837
2002-03 603
2003-04 650
2004-05 410
2005-06 722
Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640
jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com
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