Snow Is A Thing Of The Past

Two weeks of warm weather hasn’t done much to defrost trails at Mount Rainier National Park, but there are still places to get in a hike or check out wildflowers.

Paradise on the south side of the mountain is setting records for August snow depth. On Aug. 7, it recorded 44 inches of snow, surpassing the record of 40 inches set in 1974. The snow depth has been above record levels ever since.

“If you’re going to have snow, you might as well set records,” said ranger Davis Root. “People are still surprised how much snow we have at Paradise.”

As of Aug. 9, Paradise reported 907 inches of snow for 2011, one of its top five snow years, according to the blog maintained by the park’s climbing rangers. The snowline is just below Paradise at about 5,000 feet, Root said, but there are still hazards on many trails.

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