After a relatively warm summer in 2012, warm moist trade winds pushed a massive low pressure system on the Kenai Penninsula off the gulf of Alaska. The pressure system dropped over 50 inches of rain in the 26 days in September. Glaciers melt faster when it rains. As water droplets contain more latent heat than air the water also lubricates the bedrock the glaciers slide over speeding up their pace of retreat.
tagged: exit glacier mountain sunset rain melting ice alaska kenai fjords national park
