After Decades of Ice Loss, Cascades’ Hinman Glacier Succumbs to Hot and Dry Summer of 2022

News Briefing: 2 February 2023

For the first time in at least seven thousand years, the Hinman Glacier’s ice and snowpack has fully melted, forming a large body of water now unofficially known as the “Hinman Lake.” Hinman was the largest glacier between Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak in Washington state, U.S. Smaller glaciers in this part of the Cascade mountain range have been disappearing for nearly two centuries. Several months ago, a research expedition discovered that this glacier had vanished, with only a few patches of snowpack and ice remaining. Glaciologists noted that high summer temperatures and dry conditions during 2022 dealt the final blow to Hinman, increasing ice loss and decreasing snowfall until it disintegrated. Researchers predict that the few remaining ice patches around Hinman Lake will disappear within the next decade. Hinman and its neighboring glaciers have been critical to the Pacific Northwest’s salmon population as well as other species, by providing downstream rivers with reliable glacier runoff towards the end of even warm and dry summers, after all snowpack had melted. Over the past seventy years, the main glaciers that feed the Skykomish River basin have lost more than half of their surface area. The loss of Hinman Glacier provides a very clear reminder that global glaciers are extremely vulnerable to rising temperatures; upholding the 1.5°C Paris Agreement limit is crucial to preserving these frozen regions.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/01/us/washington-hinman-glacier-disappear-climate/index.html