Music for Snow - Lisa Hannigan

With at least a glimmer of possible snow maybe it will helped by a snow song from Lisa's new album.

Baker Ski Area, Queest-Alb Glacier and Trumpian Snow Claims

Regarding the report the claim by the Mount Baker Ski Area that they had 83 inches of snow depth, Cliff Mass asked, "Are these Trumparian claims?". The trumparian term is readily understand and perhaps a new word is entering our language for describing outrageous claims.

It turns out that Baker does indeed get a lot of snow. Its a mix of being at the right elevation and protruding out a bit from the main front of mountains. Cliff Mass presents a rationale as to why the Mount Baker Ski area gets so much snow: http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/11/why-does-mount-baker-get-so-much-snow.html that added to my ideas about the heavy snow fall.

There are hints that a few other locations get huge amounts of snow that have similar aspects. One is the Queest-Alb Glacier below the west ridge of Thee Fingers. The ridge is at about 6,000 feet so it receives plenty winter snow. By comparison the Upper Mount Baker Skit Area is at 5,000 feet.

Aerial view of Queest-Alb Glacier

The Quesst-Alb Glacier is highly dependent on winter snow to overcome its relatively low elevation and western aspect. The west part of the range Cascades are warmer in the winter but cooler in the summer compared to the east, more interior parts of the range. The Queest-Alb Glacier has retreated back from its 1989 position shown on the map above.

Queest-Alb Glacier with 1989 extent outlined in blue

 

White barked Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir)

Although my field ventures are typically focused on geology, I do note the flora around me. However, I lack education and ongoing learning to provide astute explanations - there are a lot of gaps in my understanding of plant biology and ecosystem. A fair bit of self learning and I remain very humble about just what I am seeing and what it means.

I came across a set of evergreens with very white back while visiting a site in the North Cascades.  

What were these white barked evergreens? I started going through a list of possibilities. The site was a low elevation site, but well within the mountains. Climate wise yearly rain fall is very high at 80 plus inches per year. The site is low enough that winters are generally mild, but inland enough that periods of hard freezes should be expected. The site was in one of the deep valleys with valley ridges on the order of 5,000 feet or more. Hence, nearby areas have very different growing conditions and tree species. Avalanche hazard zones are located on the slopes with evidence of periodic avalanches all the way to the valley floor in places.

It was pretty easy to tell just what the trees were by finding cones.

 Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir) cone.

So not an unusual tree species at all. Douglas fir can and does often have light colored bark as young trees. I can not be entirely sure of the age of these trees, but based the site was disturbed in the late 1970s and early 1980s so these trees may be 30 years old.

I can say that the growing conditions are very harsh. The site essentially had no soil and was underlain by cobbles and boulders. The excessive drainage has created a somewhat out of place dry ecosystem that has stunted the trees throughout the area. Indeed many were dead perhaps not able to survive once attaining larger size with a couple of hot long dry summers thrown in the mix. 

Political Sunday: Tea Leaves up the Skagit

I took advantage of the rare break in the wet weather on Friday and headed out to do some field work up the Skagit. My venture took me past political message enthusiast east of Concrete.

 

 I will be curious how the swamp draining will be perceived over the next couple of years or so. I have a sense that this sentiment may be misinterpreted. I don't think it is entirely directed at perceived corruption, but is also directed at government in general.

This concept is a bit backed up by "LOCK THEM UP" and the classic "don't tread on me" (Gadsen)flag.

Digesting this past presidential election can lead to some erroneous views by broad generalizations. My political experience has been concentrated at a local level - county and city. The views expressed along Highway 20 above are nearly lost in the political leanings of Washington State, but I might be able to project a bit about what these views mean at a local, Skagit County level. At that level they may have some influence, and perhaps even more meaning.

One take-away I have about presidential politics is that it has become very localized. What voters in California, Texas, New York, Alabama and Washington as well as the vast majority of states think almost does not matter. The presidential political struggles both in the general election and in the primaries is focused on small localized slivers of populations in "battle ground" states. Small swings of a small subset in those states drives political positioning. It is a bit maddening that large swaths of the country are rendered politically irrelevant and national interests are driven by small subsets of our nation.    

Safe Travels: Lisa Hannigan - Home - Live in Kinsale

I am staying put sort of this Thanksgiving.

But a blog tradition for this time of year is a bit of Lisa Hannigan for those going "home" for the big meal:



And the blog's Thanksgiving travel music traditional song:

Swiftsure Bank Border Dispute

Our border with Canada has had few problem locations that needed to be figured out (canada-united-state-borders-5-minute) including a major challenge in the San Juan Islands (borderlines-and-oregon-country-Whatcom). Point Roberts may have been overlooked during the initial border draw, but its value as access to salmon runs for Americans precluded any talk of a border adjustment. Issues associated with inaccuracies of the original 49th parallel survey were readily worked out.

 

A new border dispute arose in 1977 when nations began laying claim to coastal waters. Google Earth ends the U.S. - Canada boundary at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  

 

The question beyond the entrance of the strait uses the same principle as within the strait. The line is drawn equidistant between the two shores. Hence, the border in the ocean takes trend line to the southwest beyond the strait. The dispute has to do with where one starts to draw the line from the coast. The Americans used the low water line off the northwest coast. The Canadians used as starting point a line drawn along the Vancouver Island shore from point to point. 

From Gray (1997) (IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin)

The differences between the two methods creates two small slivers of ocean water in dispute. The northeast sliver may be the more important one in that it includes the Swiftsure Bank. Swiftsure is touted by fishing charter folks on both sides of the border.

Notes on a Close Vote in Whatcom County: EMS Levy

Whatcom County is in the midst of a very close election count. An emergency medical services property tax was on the 2016 ballot. The levy requires a 60% yes vote to pass. Yes, it is close!

 

But note that EMS is out polling Clinton and Trump. The presidential vote in Whatcom County did out poll EMS; I cut off the "third party" candidates - the total of all presidential candidates was a bit more than the total for EMS.

However, a very striking part of this vote is the turnout in Whatcom County was 82.4%. Pretty good compared to the national 55% turn out at the national level. We are not a red state - blue state divided country; but divided as well on a third level with voters and non voters.

The closeness of the EMS levy did get some Seattle-centric attentions: http://komonews/it-couldnt-be-any-closer-local-levy-passing-by-01-percent.

I should note that this is the first EMS property tax levy in Whatcom County. Previous EMS taxes had been sales tax funded combined with local fire district levies and money from the Whatcom County general fund.