A one-time Washington state glacier that stretched between Mount Rainer and Glacier Peak, the Hinman Glacier, has completely vanished, leaving only a few snowfields and a lake where a 320-acre glacier sat 50 years ago, CNN reports.
Researchers didn’t find characteristics of glaciers remaining in the receding snow, but a new lake, unofficially named Hinman Lake, was identified by the team. “It’s completely disappeared. This was the biggest glacier in this part of the mountain range — it was exceptional,” Mauri Pelto, a glaciologist with Nichols College, told CNN. The glacier could reform, he said, “but as we continue to warm into the future that will be even less hospitable.”