Mount Rainier Is Shrinking

Owen Clarke for Outside (Apple News link):

The highest point on Mount Rainier is no longer a perennially frozen ridge of ice and snow, but rather a mound of rocks located several hundred feet away. And this shift means the iconic peak is several feet shorter than previously believed, and is no longer one of the United States’ so-called “ice-capped summits.”

Of course, these type of stories are now increasingly common as our planet keeps warming. But when they hits so close to home one still stops in its tracks. Since moving to Washington State over 25 years ago I’ve always seen the white giant in the distance from my hometown, now, especially in late summer Rainier increasingly looks bare with its glaciers shrinking and snowfields melting. Truly sad.