Glacier National Park......minus the glaciers

[marmar]

from Science News:



Glacier National Park, Montana The nation’s tenth national park — once home to some 150 named glaciers — is running out of ice fields. Century-old Glacier National Park has but 25 glaciers left. And computer models by federal scientists working at the park indicate that within another decade — at most two — the only place to see the region’s glaciers will be in historic photos.

The problem: The region’s climate has been warming, notes Erich Peitzsch of the U.S. Geological Survey, who studies snow and ice at the park. Speaking with reporters, October 14, as part of a field trip associated with the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual meeting in Missoula, Mont., he described the park’s slowly elevating fever.

Throughout the past century, for instance, this locale has experienced a quadrupling in the annual number of extremely hot days. In the early 20th century, just five days a year exceeded 90 °F (32.2 °C). By 2006 (the last year analyzed), the average had risen to roughly 20. This has led to a longer window of peak temps. While baking summer heat used to start around the second week in July and extend through maybe the second week in August, it now typically begins in late June and continues to around August 25.

The annual number of days hovering at or below freezing have also diminished over the past century — from about 186 days a year to 170 now. The sharpest decline in this trend: since 1986. One consequence: spring thaws now arrive about three weeks earlier than a century ago. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/64674/title/GNP%E2%80%99s_glaciers__Going%2C_going_._._._

[xchrom]

1. i should've gone when it was more in it's glory.

sad to see all of that diminished.

[hatrack]

2. Will it be "The Park Formerly Known As Glacier"?

Or will it just have this cool cryptic symbol on the entrance signs?

[DrDan]

3. this place is an absolute treasure

visited there last year - what a magnificent place