Shasta Living Laboratory

On display now through December 31, 2023

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry exhibition Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact allowed Turtle Bay to look closer at snow and its importance in our region. What better place to study snow than Mt. Shasta? The big (sometimes) white mountain is not just a beautiful view to our north; it is a living laboratory for studying weather and climate and their effects on our ecology and economics.

We worked with the folks at the United States Forest Services, Mt. Shasta Ranger District, who know the mountain better than anyone. Their climbing rangers are the people who do the snow surveys for the Department of Water Resources. They connected us with geologist Phil Rhodes, who has been studying and recording Mt. Shasta’s glaciers for decades. Together, we curated this data-driven exhibition.

With an elevation of 14,179 feet, this stratovolcano gets regular snowfall that can be measured annually, and it is one of the few mountains in the lower 48 states with glaciers. The number of glaciers on Shasta has changed since they were first discovered in 1870, with up to ten observed. Today, the glaciers are Whitney, the glacier with the most surface area, Hotlum, the most voluminous glacier in California, Konwakiton, Bolam, Wintun, Watkins, “Upper Wintun,” “Mud Creek,”

“Chicago,” and “Olberman.” The names in quotation marks are unofficial designations.

Glaciers are persistent bodies of dense ice that move under their own weight, scouring and reshaping the landscape. They form where snow accumulation exceeds its removal through natural processes, such as wind, melting, or evaporation. This process takes years, sometimes centuries. Heavy snowfall combined with decreased melting will increase the size of a glacier. Conversely, low snowfall and/or a fast melt will shrink or break a glacier. Size can be measured and compared using photographs, making glaciers great indicators of short-term weather patterns and long-term climate change.

Snowfall is more evident to the casual observer. Glancing up the valley at Mt. Shasta, it was easy to see how much more snow fell in 2022/23 than in 2021/22. However, snow’s role in the watershed is more complex than how many inches fall annually. When the snow falls, where it falls, the water content, and when and how quickly it melts are all factored into predicting everything from the ski season and avalanche danger to how much water will be available in the future for streams and groundwater, to the vegetation moisture content going into fire season. Will there be enough water? Will there be too much water all at once? Will the habitat change in the long term?

Scientists have explored and gathered data on and around Mt. Shasta since the U. S. Geological Survey explored it in 1870. Consistent record keeping for snowfall began after 1929 when the California legislature established the official California Cooperative Snow Surveys program. With nearly 100 years of measurements for the oldest surveyed snow courses on Mt. Shasta and temperature and rainfall data, scientists can see and compare weather patterns and track longer-term climate trends. This exhibition explores some of this data and what scientists predict for our local ecosystems' future.

Unlike most of our exhibitions, where changes are made only after installation if a mistake is found, this exhibition is a living document that has had several updates regarding the status of the glaciers as Mt. Shasta experienced both a hotter-than-normal summer and had early snowfall in September 2023 that affected the short-term condition of these climate indicators. 

What will our local weather be like this winter?