Spectacular on a clear, sunny day, Mount Adams rises a scant 53 miles from Yakima.
But the mountain holds what until now has been pretty much a secret.
In the first comprehensive study of its kind, a Portland State University study has found Mount Adams’ 12 glaciers have shrunk by nearly half since 1904 and are receding faster than those of nearby sister volcanoes Mount Hood and Mount Rainier.
It’s another sign of gradually warming temperatures that - if continued as expected by researchers - will mean significant problems for the water-dependent Yakima Valley.
The study lends urgency to an earlier federal report that shows the water content of Cascade Mountain snowpacks could dwindle by as much as 50 percent by the 2070s.
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The Portland State University study suggests that Washington’s gradually warming temperatures have caused Mount Adams’ to shrink by nearly half since 1904 and are receding faster than those of nearby sister volcanoes Mount Hood and Mount Rainier, but the National Climatic Data Center figures copied below indicate the following:
· Washington’s annual temperatures trended downward slightly at a rate of 0.07 degrees F per decade from 1895 through 1985.
· Washington’s annual temperatures trended downward more rapidly at a rate of 0.39 degrees F per decade from 1986 through 2011.
Portland State University suggests that Washington has been gradually warming since 1904, but the National Climatic Data Center data indicates that Washington’s annual temperatures trended downward slightly from 1895 through 1985 and then trended downward more rapidly from 1986 through 2011. These two periods of downward trending Washington annual temperatures were separated by a curious and unexplained temperature step change increase of 3.6 degrees F occurring between 1985 and 1986.
Ken Schlichte
Gordon Fulks adds: “The quilty party is likely Andrew Fountain at PSU. He has hawked this sort of rubbish for years by picking those cases where glaciers have retreated and ignoring those where they have advanced. He also chooses the period of record as the entire 20th century, when he knows that much of the retreat occurred up to and during the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s before CO2 could have been a “problem.” When I nailed him about this at a seminar at PSU last summer, he refused to answer and quickly ducked out of the room. He clearly knows that he is vulnerable but has gotten away with this poor excuse for science for many years.”
Annual Temperature
Washington
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Some of the following data are preliminary and have not been quality controlled.
For official data, please contact the NCDC Climate Services and Monitoring Division at ncdc.orders@noaa.gov.
Annual 1895 - 1985 Data Values:
Annual 1895 - 1985 Average = 47.81 degF
Annual 1895 - 1985 Trend = -0.07 degF / Decade
(Enlarged)
Annual Temperature
Washington
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Some of the following data are preliminary and have not been quality controlled.
For official data, please contact the NCDC Climate Services and Monitoring Division at ncdc.orders@noaa.gov.
Annual 1986 - 2011 Data Values:
Annual 1986 - 2011 Average = 48.85 degF
Annual 1986 - 2011 Trend = -0.39 degF / Decade
(Enlarged)
