Portions of Firehold Lake Drive in Yellowstone Natl Park Melt

[andy3175]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/10/yellowstone-geyser-national-park-thermal/12491939/

Underground heat from the park's super volcano combined with the warm summer sun have melted a section of a road in Yellowstone National Park, forcing its temporary closure.

The 3.3-mile-long Firehole Lake Drive is closed because the road has turned into a soupy mess, said park spokesman Dan Hottle. Yellowstone spans portions of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

The road itself is off Grand Loop Road between Old Faithful and Madison Junction in the park's Lower Geyser Basin, and takes visitors past Great Fountain Geyser, White Dome Geyser and Firehole Lake. The same heat that feeds the geysers softened the pavement too much to drive on.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/yellowstone-heat-road-melts/30238184

Yellowstone National Park's Firehole Lake Drive was closed Thursday, July 10, as portions of the roadway's asphalt melted amid the summer's recent heat in the Northwest.

As officials think of ways to fix the roadway, heat in the Northwest will ramp up again this weekend. Temperatures in the park are expected to be near to slightly above normal this weekend and next week.

[billtm]

Will the pavement eventually reharden?