Database ID#: 113
Date: Saturday, July 3, 1976
Location: Nisqually Glacier
Glacier Name: Nisqually Glacier
Drainage Basin: Nisqually River
Event Type: Outburst Flood

Weather:


Season: N/A

Notes:
NOTE: DATE ESTIMATED.

From Samora and Malver, 1996:

The following is a written description of a glacier burst on the Nisqually Glacier I witnessed in
late June/early July of 1976 at Mt. Rainier National Park.

It was just after 7:00 am in the morning (it was the weekend, probably Saturday), I had been
scheduled to give a 6:30 am bird walk and no one showed. So instead of returning to my quarters
I went on my bird walk alone. It had been raining for the past 2-3 days and was drizzling and
foggy at Paradise. There was still some 3-6 feet of snow on the ground at Paradise and the
weather had been rather bleak since my arrival June 15, 1976.

I was on the little nature trail from the Visitor Center to the Nisqually Glacier overlook and was
about 75 feet from the railing. The clouds had lifted and the drizzle had lightened up some when
I heard a hugh rumbling sound as if a rockslide or avalanche were occurring. It was very loud
and startled me, I immediately thought it was coming from above me on the mountain and I ran
to the railing and looked up the mountain towards Camp Muir and the cliffs above the Nisqually
Glacier. I could see nothing moving, no snow or dust cloud. It was several seconds later that I
realized the sound was coming from the snout of the Nisqually glacier far below me. I had a pair
of binoculars with me and focused on the glacier’s snout. Because it was early summer, the
glacier was still covered in winter season’s white snow. The Nisqually river was also still hidden
beneath snow and silent, as was the entire valley below the glacier to the Paradise bridge.

What I remember seeing first was the up welling of white and gray water emerging from the
crevasses as if a dam had broken erupting of a great fountain releasing pressure and great
turbulence. Rocks were rolling off the crevasses across the top of the glacier. The crevices
themselves were actually widening as the water surged out of them. The water poured out and
was probably flowing three to six feet deep over the top of the glacier. The water ran out of the
crevasses on the lower end near the snout, there was some water coming out of fissures in the
snout’s face. The glacier’s high point was the near the center of the glacier and the water flowed
to both the right and left edge of the glacier and ran downslope into the snow field below the
snout. The water was gushing, bubbling and white like one see’s in rapids or cascades with a tint
of gray to it.

At the mouth of the glacier, the Nisqually River bubbled up heaving huge blocks of snow off the
top of the river channel exposing the stream for the first time that spring (or summer). The water
flowed across the snow cover. Some of these snow blocks were as large as a VW Bus
automobile, maybe larger, six foot wide by eight feet in length. They were tossed to the left and
right of the channel as it flowed down stream. The stream for about two hundred yards broke
through as the water overwhelmed the narrow snow buried stream channel. However, some
portions of the Nisqually river remained covered by snow and wide bridges existed across the
channel at places. Hugh boulders, 2-4 feet in diameter could be heard and seen rolling down the
channel as the snow blocks were lifted up off the channel. As the water emerged from the
crevasses of the glacier, boulders could be seen rolling down the top of the glacier towards the
walls of the canyon. There were boulders and rocks on the edge of the valley that became
dislodged and then rolled down onto the glacier edge and fell into the valley below the glacier.
These rocks did not go far and pretty much settled at the base of the glacier, but I saw a few
bounce twenty or more feet into the air.

The sequence of events began with the water coming out of the crevasses on the top of the
glacier, followed by the Nisqually River below the snout of the glacier breaking though. The
noise came from first the water up welling through the glacier’s crevasses on top of the glacier
and then this was joined by the boulders rolling down the stream channel, knocking into each
other as this great volume of water emerged from the glacier.

By 7:15 am the water had subsided from the crevasses and most of the flow came from the newly
exposed Nisqually River from the glacier’s snout. I saw no upper portion of the glacier move
above the point of the lower glacier where the water was emerging from the crevasses. All
movement of the crevasses was restricted to the lower 100 yards of the glacier. It appeared that
the crevasses got wider as the water came up and out. I believe their was some small calving of
the glacier’s face, with slabs of ice peeling off and water draining out. Up to this point, the
Nisqually glacier was covered in snow and was pretty white. By the end of this event, the
glacier’s dark rock cover was exposed where the water had crossed over it. I realized that the
glacier was draining, that something had unplugged and the water had drained from it.

When I returned to the visitor center and told my supervisor Robin Lange what I had seen, she
told me that I had seen a glacial burst. She indicated to me that other rangers had seen this
happen but told me I was lucky and that it was not very common. She explained that the glacier
had filled with melt water and rain water from the days of rain we had experienced and had been
trapped in an internal glacial reservoir. This was a burst of the reservoir. By 7:20 am everything
appeared stable and the Nisqually River appeared to be within its stream banks. There was no
more movement and the noise was limited to the roar of the river which I later observed to be
normal seasonal flow, but prior to this event was not apparent because it was covered by snow.
It has been 22 years since I observed this spectacular event and have not forgotten it, it left an
impression on me. Being a physical geographer this was really quite exciting for me since most
of my education was in classrooms. I recall being disappointed that no one had come on my bird
walk because I was not able to share the experience with anyone. Everyone else in Paradise was
still in bed when this very exciting event occurred.

Jim F. Milestone
Regional Ecosystem Office
National Park Service
(503) 808-2170
April 14, 1998

Estimated Velocity:
Estimated Peak Flow:
Estimated Volume:

References:
Samora and Malver, 1996, Page 43-44.