The Disappearing Signs
I grew up in Northern Ontario, in the land of the sunken Laurentian peaks that once rose majestically throughout the Canadian Shield. Where there was no rock, there were plenty of lakes and large expanses of clay and sandy loam. Agriculture was nominal but the mines were plentiful. Eons ago, movement of magma through this portion of the Shield had elevated plenty of gold close to the surface and it was later joined by copper, zinc, and silver, and now a large deposit of nickel.
Thus, I grew up in an area where many westerners would call me a “flatlander”. However, unlike many flatlanders who suffer from acrophobia or fear of heights when traveling mountainous highways, I’ve never been afflicted with that space or motion discomfort. If one has that fear, then driving Montana’s “Going to the Sun Highway” and the “The Beartooth Highway”, part of which is located in Wyoming, and Arizona’s “Mount Lemmon Highway”, would assuredly create some alarming horror. The Grand Loop Road in the northeast quadrant of Yellowstone Park has also had a few people sprawled out on the rear passenger seat with no desire to look out a window.
Of those four routes, the “Going to the Sun Highway” in Glacier National Park is, by far, the least favored by fainthearted flatlanders.
During the beginning of the Obama administration, multiple signs were placed along the “Going to the Sun Highway” route, as well as the road’s scenic lookouts advising that the glaciers within the park would be gone by the year 2020. The following was an image of that sign. Note the last sentence in the first paragraph - ironically, who do you blame for the original signage in the park - rather than people, politicians, or bureaucrats, it was apparently the fault of “computer models” - a common scapegoat when things go awry.
Without any fanfare or press release, in 2019, the National Park Service rounded up and removed all of the signs. They did this in the off-season while the park was closed. Not only was the prediction false, but seems the “science” behind it was also distorted.
The glaciers in question, based on seasonal dates, grow for 9 months and then recede for 3. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) enters specific glacial data and takes photographs annually. However, it seems that the photos are not dated, and as the writer of the linked article asserts, “A picture taken in July will show a glacier much larger than a picture of the same glacier taken in September.” Further, many of the glaciers are hidden from general public view and could take days of arduous back-packing to view.
The writer also took pictures of the Grinnell Glacier in the central area of the park on or about the same September date – one in 2010 and the other in 2022. In the 12 years between photos, the glacier appeared to be exactly the same size.
In the continuing battle relative to anthropogenic climate change the advocates including scientists, eco-politicians, and elitist personalities have all made predictions and prophecies on various detrimental effects of the hypothesis. None have ever come true - no, not one.
The following photograph shows the clearing of snow on the “Going to the Sun” highway in preparation for the short tourist season. This was taken on an early June day.