Last weekend, I took my familiy on a trip to see the Lava Beds National Monument (the kids had a great time exploring the lava tube caves) and also a stop at Crater Lake. Crater Lake happens to have a USHCN weather station, and it is one of the few stations that GISS excludes (they have an exclusion code for it in their software Mosher located some time ago). This is what the station looked like in fall 2007 when I visited:
And here it is was on May 29th, 2011, from approximately the same view:
My lovely wife, who is a better photographer than I am, (and lighter on her feet) took a hike to the top of the snow and got this photo:
Note the rain gauge on the stilt tripod and the tracks leading to it. That was placed there by park staff in an effort to catch May rains…except, it was snowing the day we were there. There is also a snowboard to catch fresh snowfall to the left of the tower.
Note the Stevenson screen has been elevated on the tower, here is a closeup:
Note the MMTS thermistor temperature shield on top of the Stevenson Screen (circular plates), an addition since 2007. It moves up and down the tower with the screen based on snow depth.
How much snow was there at the end of May? A closeup of the snowpole gives a value:
Snow depth on May 29th, 2011, just shy of 10 feet.
The posted weather statement in the visitor’s center is enlightening:
Snow depth, 213% of average. One wonders if it will melt before winter sets it.
Crater Lake was one of the most stunningly beautiful places i have ever seen.
“One wonders if it will melt before winter sets it”.
Is this the start of a new glacier or even a new ice age?
I am busy doing a statistical analysis of some weather stations to determine whether global warming is natural or man made.
http://www.letterdash.com/HenryP/henrys-pool-table-on-global-warming
I stumbled upon some data from Gibraltar (UK) which appear strange when compared to the neighbouring Spanish stations. More specifically it seems the incline of maxima at Gibraltar does not tie up with that observed by other surrounding stations. That would seem like a case of “hide the incline” . Funny enough I noticed the same opposite trend result on Hunululu. As a result I now view all USA and UK results with some suspicion. Any comments on this by WUWT from the USA?
Your kids are blessed to have you as their Dad.
They’ll grow up knowing the truth.
Cheers
Robin
Friday we had a stunningly hot day … and by chance I was sitting in a hall with 800 other people all sweltering away wishing we’d got out our shorts. Saturday, it was back to fleece and I kid you not, I could have done with a bobble hat and gloves. It may have been the wind chill with the dry air, but after and afternoon in the open (60m above sea level in an urban playing field) I needed to warm up.
We’ve had it wet before, before I’ve never known such a cold and wet spell so late into the “summer” … I laugh writing that … I’ve only just been able to cut the grass.
I wonder if that little tree in the foreground of the 2007 image is going to make it?
One theory of how glaciation starts, is that one summer on the Ungava plateau in Northern Canada, not all the snow melts. This then modifies the local climate sufficiently that the snow begins to accumulate, year on year.
Then, if I may be forgiven for using the term, it all just snowballs from there.
Hey, we made the big time and escaped without negative comments! I work at Crater Lake and the snow is a major headache this year. We want to start lake monitoring but the trail to the lake is on the other side of the rim, rats. The snow plows are working hard to make it by the end of next week. You can go here and find a pdf of the latest info, updated daily. http://www.nps.gov/crla/planyourvisit/current-conditions.htm or visit the webcams I installed here http://www.nps.gov/crla/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm
You can also browse our weather station data at http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/crater_lake/index.html The pdf mentioned above uses weather data going back to 1931.
See ya.
Cold winters do not precipitate glaciers, it’s cold summers that do the trick.
hydropsyche says:
June 5, 2011 at 1:43 am
Alas it’s the middle of the night out on Craker Lake so I can’t enjoy the views over breakfast here Paris. The wonders of modern technology!
There is a Gibraltar in the UK, Gibraltar Point in Lincolnshire and the northern mouth of The Wash on the east coast, and the one joined to Spain which the Spanish do not acknowledge. A Rumanian lorry driver turned up in Lincolnshire looking for an address to be told he was nearly 2000 miles from his destination. He reprogrammed his sat nav and departed.
That weather station could do with a clean up as it now violates siting rules. Interesting post and a late summer view would be good as well to see how the snow is holding up.
Hi Scottish Sceptic, meet another! Been there, done that, got the long uncut grass because of the wet wet wet May. Guys abroad, May is supposed to be one of the best months in Scotland. Now it’s June, OH and I don’t talk about sunny days, we just comment on the varying thickness of the cloud cover. We had summer on 4 June. But, to be fair, you can’t complain about rain in western Scotland; it’s normal for us to have frequent chunks of the Atlantic dumped on us. Just not in MAY!!!!
That proves, that man-made global warming is real, freak weather!
Come on Anthony, you know warmth equals snow, geez!!!!!!
Disturbing Imagery Of Declining Summer Snowpack In Colorado
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/disturbing-imagery-of-declining-summer-snowpack-in-colorado/
Authorities said because of so much snow, they could not open on Memorial Day.
The latest date known for meltoff is July 23, 1983, the year of the big snow in Oregon/California. The earliest date is May 2, 1934. From COOP records back to 1919.
Crater Lake. bad place to bring your children 7700 years ago.
http://www.nps.gov/crla/naturescience/index.htm
Crater Lake, no global warming
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/gistemp_station.py?id=425725970120&data_set=1&num_neighbors=1
rbateman says:
June 5, 2011 at 3:24 am
The latest date known for meltoff is July 23, 1983, the year of the big snow in Oregon/California. The earliest date is May 2, 1934. From COOP records back to 1919.
1934 JAN -1.3 FEB -0.4 MAR 3.4 APR 5.0 MAY 6.0 JUN 8.0
2011 JAN -1.8 FEB -4.1 MAR-4.4 APR-3.4
March and April 1934 were extremely Warm. (Global Warming)
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/work/gistemp/STATIONS//tmp.425725970120.1.1/station.txt
HenryP wrote
“I stumbled upon some data from Gibraltar (UK) which appear strange when compared to the neighbouring Spanish stations. More specifically it seems the incline of maxima at Gibraltar does not tie up with that observed by other surrounding stations. That would seem like a case of “hide the incline” . Funny enough I noticed the same opposite trend result on Hunululu. As a result I now view all USA and UK results with some suspicion. Any comments on this by WUWT from the USA?”
In January we were stranded in Spain because Newcastle Airport was closed due to heavy snow. I checked temperatures and weather forecast on Yahoo’s Weather Channel they were saying that Newcastle was minimum -1 maximum 0. My work colleagues were telling me it was actually -9! This is too big a discrepancy to account for error. Currently Weather Channel is saying High 13 Low 7 in a little box above this it says “Feels Like” which states 9. Now I thought that “feels like” indicates wind chill, there is no wind here, just a very light breeze, certainly not enough to create a 4 celsius subjective fall in temperature.
I have just had to put central heating back on. 12:55 pm, 8.7 celsius outside according to my weather station and rain.
Just re-read my post, should have done so before submission. We were stuck in Spain in January 2010.
http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/802/840601b7.jpg
Picture of the Crater Lake Lodge June 1, 1984. Not of the weather station but does show that heavy snow in late May early June is not unknown at Crater Lake. If my memory is correct it was mostly the heavy drifts left as some of the ground was bare even around the lodge. It is pretty rare for the snow at these National Park Lodges to last through the summer, otherwise they would have been built in different places. My really vague memory was that the snow was 3-foot deep at the summer minimum at Paradise Lodge on Mount Rainier the year they set the all-time snowfall record the winter of 71-72, since surpassed by Mount Baker Lodge.
Elsewhere in the Cascades, Washington State DOT reopened Rt 20, the North Cascades Highway for the summer. Apparently it’s one of the latest openings (May 25th), but the only personal memory I have of the area is from 1974 on a bicycle tour from Palo Alto CA to Billings MT (via Banff, Alberta). I remember people saying it opened late that year too, and there was still 8 feet of snow (2+ meters) at Rainy Pass.
I forget where I heard about it (I don’t see it on Tips & Notes), see:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157626170712679/
WSDOT notes reopening in the spring usually falls between late March and early
May.
BTW, that road is a great route for a bicyclist to cross the Cascades. The road follows the Skagit River and I could comfortably stay in a lowish gear. Only around the hydro dams and after leaving the river for the pass did I need my low gear.
http://wermenh.com/biketour-1974/leg3.html
Hmm, 1974 – the analog year for this year wrt Australian flooding, tornadoes, and cold PNW.
Anthony,
Is it a wonder that butterflies and birds developed their survival techniques of flying south for the winter?
hydropsyche says:
June 5, 2011 at 1:43 am
> I work at Crater Lake and the snow is a major headache this year.
I couldn’t find daily snow depth information for 1974, but did see it was a 600+ inch year. How do the two years compare for today? When did the snow cover reach 0″ in 1974?
I had originally planned on riding around the rim on that 1974 trip, but skipped it. The “rolling mountains” of California Rt 1 and Rt 101 had taken their toll. I finally did make it there by car during a break on my family’s 2003 bicycle tour. Nice volcano you have there.
The other interesting observation is that while snow depth is 214% of normal, precip is 132% of normal – ie it is deep because it has been very COLD this spring & the snow has not been melting. True over most of the western mountains this spring.
I have to say (very reluctantly) that this isn’t one of your more convincing efforts, Anthony. Crater Lake is well known to be a snow-trap. Snow has been recorded there in every month of the year. Average snowfall per year is 530 inches (44 ft/13.6m); the record is nearly twice that. Many years, the Rim Drive is closed by snow until mid-June. There are places inside the crater that see so little sunlight you can still find isolated piles of snow there in September. 120 inches of snow at the Park HQ on Memorial Day just isn’t all that impressive. Or all that unusual.