Mount Fury facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mount Fury
Mount Fury at the far right and Luna Peak at far left above the cirque
Highest point
Elevation	8,280+ ft (2,520+ m)
Prominence	1,280 ft (390 m)
Geography
Mount Fury Location in Washington (state) Show map of Washington (state) Mount Fury Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Whatcom County, Washington, U.S.
Parent range	Cascade Range
Topo map	USGS Mount Challenger

Mount Fury is a tall mountain located in North Cascades National Park in Washington, USA. It stands at 8,280+ ft (2,520+ m) high. You can find several small glaciers on its sides. Mount Fury is the second highest peak in the Picket Range. The tallest peak in this range is Luna Peak, which is about 2.6 mi (4.2 km) away to the northeast.

Weather Around Mount Fury

Mount Fury is in a special weather area called a "marine west coast climate." This means it's near the ocean and gets a lot of rain and snow. Most of the weather comes from the Pacific Ocean. These weather systems move northeast towards the Cascade Mountains.

When the weather systems reach the North Cascades, the mountains push the air upwards. This causes the air to cool and drop its moisture. This moisture falls as rain or snowfall on the mountains. This process is called Orographic lift.

Because of this, the western side of the North Cascades gets a lot of precipitation. This is especially true in winter, when heavy snow falls. Winters are usually cloudy. However, in summer, high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean often bring clear skies. The snow here tends to be wet and heavy. This can make the risk of avalanches higher.

How Mount Fury Was Formed

The North Cascades area has very rugged land. You can see sharp peaks, tall spires, long ridges, and deep valleys carved by glaciers. These different shapes and big changes in height were created by geological events over millions of years. These events also led to the different climates we see today.

The Cascade Mountains started to form millions of years ago. This was during a time called the late Eocene Epoch. At that time, the North American Plate was slowly moving over the Pacific Plate. This movement caused a lot of volcanic activity.

Also, small pieces of the Earth's crust, called terranes, came together. These pieces were from both the ocean floor and continents. They helped create the North Cascades about 50 million years ago.

Later, during the Pleistocene period (which started over two million years ago), large sheets of ice called glaciers moved across the land. They advanced and then melted back many times. As they moved, they scraped the landscape and left behind piles of rock.

The "U"-shaped valleys you see today were carved out by these glaciers. The combination of land being pushed up (uplift) and cracks forming in the Earth's crust (faulting) along with glaciation has shaped the tall peaks and deep valleys of the North Cascades.