Climate, Flooding, and Mount Rainier

Here's a great article on WTA's Signposts Blog about the recent and future flooding at Mount Rainier and its relation to the ongoing process of global climate change. Interesting reading, as it touches not only on flooding but on other processes like changing ecosystems.

While the damage is likely nowhere near what hit the park in in 2006, it does remind us that flooding events continue to frequently wash down the valleys of the Cascades.... Meanwhile, the News Tribune reports that alpine meadows in Mount Rainier National Park are disappearing. Scientists have found that, since 1930, new forests have been encroaching on the spectacular wildflower meadows (which make up about 23 percent of the park's land area). The culprits? Climate change, decreasing snow pack, and lack of wildfires all play a role.