Mover Mike

Wallowa Lake is a perfect morainal lake, which means it was formed by a glacier (about 9 million years ago). The lake is 5 miles long, and a mile wide, with a depth of 283'.

Wallowa Lake has a problem and the problem may have a negative effect on the community surrounding the lake and farmers dependent on the waters for irrigation. The problem: Wallowa Lake is frozen!

The condition of this glacial lake at a 4,300 feet elevation typifies something that worries farmers, ranchers and county officials across much of eastern Oregon: Snowpacks aren't melting, storage reservoirs aren't refilling, and chilly spring temperatures have delayed the growing season.

Many other lakes that should be opening for fishing have the same problem; "popular Diamond Lake in southern Oregon", and only a handful of lakes in central Oregon will be open.

In addition to the lakes staying frozen, the water content of the state snowpack is averaging 185% of normal for this time of year.

"It has been gaining; it hasn't been melting," (Jon Lea, a hydrologist with the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service) said of the snowpacks, which ordinarily would be sending millions of gallons of spring runoff frothing downstream into storage reservoirs.

We know the global warming wackos tell you that glaciers are melting everywhere and the big danger is that melting in Greenland and Antartica would raise sea levels. The Wallowas may be telling us that the trend is cooling not warming. Not only have we seen record snow levels in many parts of the U.S. and Canada, but the Nisqually glacier on Mt. Rainier is actually growing. If all the ice melt is taking place as the global warming fanatics tell us is happening, shouldn't we see the sea levels rise?

Grey Canada carried a chart showing sea levels for the last 24,000 years. It shows that sea levels started rising 22,000 years ago and plateaued 7,000 years ago. Glaciers stop growing, then melt and sea levels rise. Water vapor comes off the ocean, rises and makes snow, the snow packs build, the sea levels fall and we go into an ice age. The last ice age ended 11,500 years ago. IMO, Wallowa Lake and the heavy snowpacks are telling us that the next ice age has begun.

Continuing the theme of the previous post, The National Post announced

Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.

[...]

China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century.

In just the first two weeks of February, Toronto received 70 cm of snow, smashing the record of 66.6 cm for the entire month set back in the pre-SUV, pre-Kyoto, pre-carbon footprint days of 1950.

Gilles Langis, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service in Ottawa, says the Arctic winter has been so severe the ice has not only recovered, it is actually 10 to 20 cm thicker in many places than at this time last year.

The Calgary Herald has an article outlining a similar experience to Wallowa Lake: Record low water levels at Montreal Harbour, now with the heaviest snowpack in years, there are high hopes for the spring melt to raise water levels in the harbor and the Great Lakes. However, the worry is a cool spring stops melt and the snow just evaporates.

From the AP in The Oregonian, Snow could slow campground openings.

Many campgrounds in eastern Washington and northern Idaho will be opening later than usual because of heavy snow and a cold spring...

Some sites may not open by Memorial Day, the traditional start of the heavy camping season and snowdrifts could block access to lookout towers well into July.

And they're still getting more snow. One ranger station had "12 feet of snow last week, four times the typical amount for this time of year."

Some scientists worry about the "albedo effect" The classic example of albedo effect is the snow-temperature feedback. If a normally clear area is snow covered, the area cools and the snow doesn't melt, the albedo increases, less sunlight is absorbed, and the temperature tends to decrease. The converse is true.

Back in September of 2004 I posted about The Weather, It is a Changin' and referred to a book by Robert W. Felix entitled "Not By Fire But By Ice." I owned the book, but when I started to thumb through it, I didn't recall ever reading it.

The book refers to Felix's web site iceagenow.com . Climate Patrol.com has a video of Felix making a presentation in Coeur de Alain in March of 2007. This sure runs counter to Al Gore's claims:

Update:

I don't recall seeing this much snow at the beach.

Snow made spectacular sights in the winter of 2007 (photo Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium)

The Beach Connection, covering 180 miles of Oregon coast from Astoria to Florence, has pictures of the beach snow and reports about the impact on tourism.