Does Mount Rainier look more bare than usual?
You might have noticed that Mount Rainier’s been looking a little…. Bald lately.
People on social media have been posting about how Washington’s favorite sight looks less snowy than usual. Some of them are saying they’ve never seen the mountain look this bare in their lives.
Rainier definitely sheds some snow in the warmer months. And Washington has been getting hit with some pretty serious heat lately.
Many of us know that climate change is a thing, so how much of that is playing into the mountain’s sleek peak? (Basically, how much dread should we be feeling about this?)
Soundside asked a glaciologist to explain what's happening up there.
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Guest:
- Dr. Mauri Pelto, director of the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project.
Related stories:
- The mountain is out: Mount Rainier shows rocky face after record-breaking heat, snow melt - seattlepi.com
- Mount Rainier’s glaciers are disappearing. What happens when they’re gone? - Tacoma News Tribune
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Libby Denkmann
Host, Soundside
Libby Denkmann joined KUOW in December 2021 as the host of the midday show Soundside. She’s a native Pacific Northwesterner who grew up in Redmond, graduated from the University of Washington, and covered local news as a producer and reporter with KIRO Radio.
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Maleeha Syed
Producer, Soundside
Maleeha is a producer on Soundside, a show that helps listeners get to know the PNW and each other. Before KUOW, she worked at Cascade PBS, first as a communities reporter and then as a podcast producer on shows like Northwest Reports and Your Last Meal. Before moving to Seattle, she worked as a reporter at the Burlington Free Press in Vermont, but is originally from San Antonio.
More stories from Maleeha Syed »
