Crater Lake NP's Snowfall Totals Dropping For Eight Decades Straight Now

[hatrack]

Crater Lake National Park is known as one of the snowiest inhabited places in North America, where 44 feet of annual snowfall encircles the phantasmal blue water of the United States’ deepest lake.

Every year, thousands of cross-county skiers and snowshoers journey to the calderaof this exploded Cascade volcano for perhaps the most scenic winter recreation in Oregon.

But while enough snow for recreation is rarely an issue at Crater Lake — even a low season features plenty of powder — Oregon’s only national park has been gradually losing its iconic snow for the past eight decades. The National Park Service has kept data on snow levels and precipitation at Steel Visitor’s Center (6,450 feet) going back to 1931. While precipitation levels have remained mostly consistent — about 67 inches per year — the amount of snow has slowly declined, with the yearly average dropping by more than 100 inches between 1931 and 2013.

“The really surprising thing was seeing how much snow used to fall here in the 1930s and ’40s,” Crater Lake park ranger Dave Grimes said. “It has been a very gradual decline, but when you look at the numbers, it’s something that definitely sticks out.”

EDIT

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20140419/NEWS/304190036/Crater-Lake-s-annual-snowfall-slowly-decreasing?nclick_check=1

[NYC_SKP]

1. "Don't count on Hydroelectric Power in a Climate Change America".

No link, I just made that up, cuz it's true!

Now, in a rush I couldn't find YOY graphs indicating the dramatic decline in production, but I did find this graphic that indicates who the big player in town is.

And it's not renewable.