Mount Tom is a remote mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

located within Olympic National Park in Jefferson County of Washington state. Its nearest higher neighbor is Mount Olympus, to the east. Due to heavy winter snowfalls, Mount Tom supports the massive White Glacier on its northeast slope, despite its modest elevation. This glacier is the westernmost glacier in the

contiguous states The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

, and the summit is the westernmost peak higher than 7000+ feet elevation. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into tributaries of the Hoh River.

History

The mountain was originally named Mount Reid in 1890 by the Seattle Press Expedition for Whitelaw Reid, editor and proprietor of the '' New-York Tribune''. The history of the mountain's present name has two competing stories. One has it named for Thomas M. Hammond, Jr., a surveyor active in the west end of the Olympic Peninsula from 1895 to 1904. The second version has it named after boy scout Thomas Martin, a member of the 1914 first ascent climbing party led by

Edmond S. Meany Edmond Stephen Meany (December 28, 1862 – April 22, 1935) was a professor of botany and history at the University of Washington (UW). He was an alumnus of the university, having graduated as the valedictorian of his class in 1885 when it was th ...

. Meany, who was then the Commissioner of Scouting in Seattle, promised the party of scouts that the first to reach the summit would have it named for him, and the 13-year-old bested his companions. Tom Martin would later become Washington State Treasurer, and a candidate for governor in 1952.

Climate

Based on the Köppen climate classification, Mount Tom is located in the marine west coast climate zone of western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Most weather fronts originate in the Pacific Ocean, and travel northeast toward the Olympic Mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks of the Olympic Range, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall ( Orographic lift). As a result, the Olympics experience high precipitation, especially during the winter months. During winter months, weather is usually cloudy, but, due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer. The months July through September offer the most favorable weather for viewing or climbing this peak.

Geology

The Olympic Mountains are composed of obducted

clastic Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks ...

wedge material and oceanic crust, primarily Eocene sandstone, turbidite, and basaltic oceanic crust. The mountains were sculpted during the Pleistocene era by erosion and glaciers advancing and retreating multiple times.

Gallery

Tom from Carrie.jpg, Mt. Tom from Mt. Carrie Mt. Tom from north.jpg, Mt. Tom from the north Glaciers mountain peaks aerial NPS Photo.jpg, Aerial view from ESE

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://www.nps.gov/olym , title=Olympic National Park , publisher=National Park Service * Mount Tom weather
Mountain Forecast