June Reports

The news, access, condtions and monthly reports for the Mt. Rainier photo guide are now available. I apologize for the delay after the Memorial Day holiday weekend but I took a short break from the work and then had to catch up on some housekeeping chores with the Website, all 440+ Web pages.

So it's done and now I can start fresh on the long overdue projects and tasks. Until then June is also the hardest month to forecast anything about or in the NP, because it's normally the first full month of snowmelt and still has spring to cool summer weather. As we note here in the Puget Sound, summer starts after the July 4th holiday, everything before is still spring.

Right now the snowpack is about 120% of normal and the snowmelt following a normal recession curve but still 1-2 weeks later than where the normal snowpack would be. This could easily mean the snowmelt won't be completely done in the mid-elevations areas (5-6,000 feet) until late July at the earliest, which in turns means the wildflowers will be equally later than normal.

As for the NP, some of the areas are still closed, namely the Mowich Lake entrance and road and the White River road and campground with the road to Sunrise. Both are scheduled to open the last week or so of June but while snow will be clearing in the Whiter River areas, you can expect sigificant snow at Sunrise well into July.

Anyway, that's it for now. Enjoy the NP.