Mt. Shasta mudflow prompts flash-flood watch

[Mrs. Overall]

Source: Redding Record Searchlight

National Weather Service officials issued a flash-flood watch late Saturday night after they said a glacier on Mt. Shasta broke off and sent a mudflow cascading down the mountain, threatening Highway 89.

The watch, issued out of the agency's Medford, Oregon, office, says a glacier on Mt. Shasta broke, releasing a high volume of volcanic mud, rocks and water. The glacier-induced mudflow already has flooded Mud and Pilgrim creeks to just north of Highway 89 where the water was dammed up Saturday night, the weather service said. The weather service warns of potential flooding on Highway 89 at Pilgrim Creek, about five miles east of McCloud. Water was accumulating upstream behind the debris flow in the two creeks and could break free at any time, the weather service warned.

Shasta-Trinity National Forest wilderness rangers believe the mudslide may be related to the drought, which has left Mt. Shasta’s glaciers exposed to the sun’s heat.

Read more: http://www.redding.com/news/local-news/mudslide-reported-on-mt-shasta-two-road-closed

[Brother Buzz]

1. Prior to the drought, Mt. Shasta glaciers have been expanding in spite of global warming

Mt. Shasta glaciers expand in spite of global warming

Samantha Young, Associated Press
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Global warming is shrinking glaciers all over the world, but the seven tongues of ice creeping down Mount Shasta's flanks are a rare exception: They are the only long-established glaciers in the lower 48 states that are growing.

Reaching more than 14,000 feet above sea level, Mount Shasta is one of the state's tallest peaks, dominating the landscape of high plains and conifer forests in far Northern California. Nearby Indian tribes referred to its glaciers as the footsteps made by the creator when he descended to Earth. Hikers flock to Shasta every summer to scale them.

With glaciers retreating in the Sierra Nevada, the Rocky Mountains and elsewhere in the Cascades, those on Mount Shasta - a volcanic peak at the southern end of the Cascade range - are actually benefiting from changing weather patterns over the Pacific Ocean.

"When people look at glaciers around the world, the majority of them are shrinking," said Slawek Tulaczyk, an assistant professor of earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz, who led a team studying Shasta's glaciers. "These glaciers seem to be benefiting from the warming ocean."

<more>

http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Mt-Shasta-glaciers-expand-in-spite-of-global-3277710.php

[jimlup]

2. Wow! Glacier's coming down is no joke!

I've climbed Shasta but we didn't make the summit. We got above the hard pitch on Avalanche Gulch but then had to turn around due to time.

I'm hoping to give it another shot soon.