Originally published July 2, 2009 at 12:00 AM | Page modified July 2, 2009 at 1:27 PM
Comments (13)
E-mail article
Print view
Share
Winter snowpack melts into waterfalls
A record hot June and a winter snowpack more than 2,000 percent of normal in places have combined to detonate an explosion of waterfalls this summer in the Central Cascades.
Seattle Times staff reporter
ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Patrick Haluptzok, left, and Desmond Scanlan slide down a snow field in an avalanche chute along the Source Lake trail hundreds of feet above Snoqualmie Pass. The snow will melt and eventually reach Puget Sound.
The sound is the first hint.
Then comes the sight: falling water. Everywhere, cascading off rock faces, winding down mountainsides, threading through avalanche chutes. A record hot June and a winter snowpack more than 2,000 percent of normal in places have combined to detonate an explosion of waterfalls this summer in the Central Cascades.
The sun, just past the summer solstice, is high and strong, and the snowpack, held close to the mountains during a slow start to spring, is gushing loose now.
The annual gift of fresh, cold, clean water is without price or peer in a place that depends on snowpack for everything from electricity to irrigation to municipal- and domestic-water supplies, from Zillah in Yakima County, to Everett.
"We absolutely take it for granted," said Scott Pattee, water-supply specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, based in Mount Vernon, and a snowpack expert.
Hiking the trail to Source Lake at Snoqualmie Pass on Tuesday, he could at times barely be heard above the sound of water tumbling from mountain peaks all the way down 3,700 feet, eventually to the Snoqualmie River.
The larger waterfalls made their own wind and threw cooling spray on hikers as they passed.
"They don't call them the Cascades for nothing," Pattee said, stepping through a stream frothing over his boots.
Thrown and spangled by mountain basalt and granite boulders in its path, the water was mesmerizing to watch. The rocks were slick and shining and their colors rich and bright as the water coursed over them.
At the head of the glacier-carved basin at tiny, aptly named Source Lake, the plumbing that recharges Puget Sound couldn't have been more clearly on display.
Snowfields, gleaming above, especially on north-facing slopes, melted into the clear, jewel-toned lake, filling it as quickly as the lake emptied out to creeks below.
"In a few days, this water will be flowing into Puget Sound and the ocean," Pattee said. "Everything is connected: mountains, city, sound and sea."
![]()
The payoff for a winter in the lowlands with an unusual amount of snow, this will be a year in which Seattle won't have any concern about adequate water supply, Pattee said.
He was here last winter, boondocking his way into cornices of snow dumped 20 feet deep by storms barreling in from the southwest.
Even beyond the sheer beauty of the waterfalls as the snowpack melts, the significance of an abundant water year like this one in a place that depends on snowpack for 70 percent of its stream flow can't be over-appreciated, Pattee said.
"It's an amazing miracle," he said. "And it continues that cycle we all need to sustain life."
Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
Three Sheets Northwest | Crew arrives in Seattle after journey through Northwest Passage
Travel notes: Make plans for Thanksgiving in Wine Country
Do It in a Day: Spend a cozy, homey day in Edmonds

Mourners gather at KeyArena for slain officer's memorial
Mourners gathered at KeyArena for the memorial service of Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton on November 6, 2009.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- Suspect in officer's slaying shot by police
- Suspect shot as city mourns slain officer
- Flags were key link to cop slaying, bombings
- Mourners gather at KeyArena for slain officer's memorial
- Briefs | Soccer: New Mexico suspends hair-pulling player Elizabeth Lambert
- McGinn pulling away as late ballots come in
- Thunder and lightning again lighting up sky
- Datsun 210 sought in police shooting
- Voters expand same-sex rights
- Details emerge about Fort Hood suspect's history
- UCLA game thread
934 - Suspect shot as city mourns slain officer
389 - Weapons, bomb-making materials found in suspect's apartment
304 - Troubling portrait emerges of Fort Hood suspect
282 - McGinn widens lead over Mallahan in Seattle mayoral race
178 - Decision day for health care in the House
117 - Schools emerge as new tactic in gay marriage votes
97 - Huskies suffer another heartbreaking loss to UCLA
79 - Referendum 71 show's Washington's strategy for marriage equality is working
69 - Using anti-shooter tactics, civilian Army police officer brought down gunman
69
- Suspect shot as city mourns slain officer
- Recipe: Penne with Smoked Turkey Sausage
- Suspect in officer's slaying shot by police
- Flags were key link to cop slaying, bombings
- Nancy Leson | An elegant offshoot of Seattle's Wild Ginger in Bellevue
- Voters expand same-sex rights
- Shoreline man killed when struck by falling tree part
- Tim Lincecum charged with misdemeanor possession
- Green River Valley: Anxiety ebbs over flooding potential
- Do It in a Day | Spend a cozy, homey day in Edmonds











