North Coast and Cascades Network climate monitoring report: North Cascades National Park Complex; water year 2011

Larrabee, Michael; Baccus, William; Lofgren, Rebecca; Huff, Mark

Climate and weather events are major influences defining ecological characteristics found in national parks and are key to understanding and interpreting changes in natural resources. Everyday park operations including; fire management, search and rescue, maintenance of park infrastructure, and visitor use are influenced by weather. Collecting weather data and maintaining climate records provides essential information needed to support park operations and to monitor park resources. This report summarizes climate data collected in North Cascades National Park Complex during the 2011 Water Year, and is part of a set of climate summary reports from seven national and historic parks in the North Coast and Cascades Network. Published in the National Park Service’s Natural Resource Data Series, annual climate summary reports are intended to provide basic data sets and data summaries in a timely manner, with minimal interpretation and analyses. We intend that the primary audience for this document will be National Park staff, especially decision makers, planners, and interpreters; partners; and interested members of the public. Temperature and precipitation data are presented from seven weather stations. These stations are distributed on the western and eastern slopes of the North Cascades Range at low and high elevations. Data were recorded using automated instruments operated by the National Park Service and other collaborators, including the National Weather Service (NWS) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). For two stations with long term records, the Newhalem Cooperative Observer (COOP) station on the west side of the Cascade crest and the Stehekin COOP on the drier, east side of the park, monthly average temperatures and monthly total precipitation are reported and compared to the 30-year normal. Monthly snow depth and snow water equivalent are reported for one Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) site and two NWS COOP stations within the park. Two NPS GLACIER weather stations provide air temperature at high elevations (>6500 feet) in alpine environments. A NWS US Climate Reference Network (USCRN) station located in Marblemount and the Newhalem COOP station represent lowland areas on the west slopes of the North Cascade Range. A series of appendices present daily and monthly air temperature, precipitation and snowpack data from seven park operated weather stations, including comparisons to period of record and highlights of important weather events from each site. In summary, average annual temperatures were below normal and precipitation was above normal for Water Year 2011. Overall, conditions in fall were warmer and drier than normal, winter was warm and wet at most sites, and in spring there was a shift to cooler and wetter conditions that continued through early summer. Snowpack remained below normal during the warmer, drier winter months only to recover to above normal due to a cooler and wetter spring that persisted into late June. Summer and early fall were drier than normal.

North Coast and Cascades Network climate monitoring report: North Cascades National Park Complex; water year 2011

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