Discussions on Recent Pacific Northwest Snowpack Trends On
February 24, 2007, The Oregonian reported on a debate between
researchers at the University of Washington on recent trends in
20th century snowpack in the Washington Cascades. The issue
originated with the publication of an written by the Mayor of
Seattle on February 7 stating that "The average snowpack in the
Cascades has declined 50 percent since 1950.". In question was
the 50% statistic for the Cascades and the implication that the
reported decline was due entirely to anthropogenic (human-
caused) climate change; the 50% figure had appeared,
erroneously, in the June 2004 report "Scientific Consensus
Statement on the Likely Impacts of Climate Change on the Pacific
Northwest" (Oregon State University). Mark Albright, of UW
Atmospheric Sciences, noted that at the most complete snow
courses (a small subset of the total) for the Cascades, the last
10 years were only a little below the long-term average. To help
resolve questions over the statement, a gro