Washington's Mountains Are Melting

This blogging falls into the category of things I read in west coast online news sources about something on the west coast which I would never read in a Texas online news source about something in Texas.

In this instance it was in the Seattle Times I saw that which you see here.

A volcano in full meltdown mode.

When I first read of the predicted super HOT heatwave heading to the Pacific Northwest I wondered if this would be causing rapid melting of the snow in the mountain zones.

I remember flying to Washington in late July of 2008 and being surprised at how odd Mount Rainier looked due to so much of that mountain's usual white covering being missing.

At that point in time the Pacific Northwest was in the midst of a drought, hence what was usually evergreen was brown instead. And the mountains had not received their usual allotment of snow.

However, Mount Rainier in 2008 still had way more white covering it than the current version of Mount Rainier. And there are still several months of HOT temperatures to come, with more of the snow pack and glaciers melting.

I have not seen a current photo of Mount Baker, which is Washington's other volcano easily seen from the lowlands of the Puget Sound.

I wonder how Mount Shasta in Northern California is doing, melt-wise. I recollect driving by Mount Shasta in the early 1990s and being surprised to see it almost totally with no snow. The Mount Shasta volcano, like Mounts Rainier and Baker, is easily seen as one drives by on Interstate 5.
 
Changing the subject slightly.

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest one learns how to pronounce Mount Rainier. As in the Rainier part is pronounced Rain-near.

I wonder if someone not from the Pacific Northwest might think Rainier was pronounced Rainy-er. And might think the name meant that mountain was more rainy than other mountains. Just like many think Seattle is rainier than any other town.

One thing I know for sure, there is no mountain or volcano in Texas with any snow melt issues...