We'll see how temporary this closure is. Could be the start of the real winter. Official statement below:
SR 20 North Cascades Highway temporarily closing
Heavy snow is forecast and conditions will be reassessed on Monday
OKANOGAN – The North Cascades Highway’s winter closure gates swing closed at 8 p.m. tonight in advance of forecast heavy snow storms over the next several days. Road conditions, avalanche danger and weather forecasts for Thanksgiving week will be reassessed on Monday to determine if SR 20 can be reopened. The National Weather Service is predicting up to 22 inches of snow by Thursday morning with more fronts bringing more snow through the weekend.
WSDOT maintenance crews have been working around the clock since Friday plowing and sanding the 3 to 5 inches of snow that has fallen each day since then. This morning at Washington Pass, 4 inches of new snow on the pavement greeted the dawn with more than 20 inches accumulated on the shoulders.
The highway closed on December 1, last year. The 37 mile winter closure zone begins seven miles east of Diablo Dam at milepost 134 on the west side of Rainy Pass (4,855’) to nine miles west of Mazama at milepost 171 below Washington Pass ( 5,477’).
Last spring’s May 23 reopening was the second latest in the highway’s 39 year history. It typically opens between the last week in March and the first week in May. The earliest opening ever was March 10, 2005. One drought year, four years after the highway first opened in 1976, it remained open all winter.
...what will they find on Monday? Hard to say, but I think I'd have a back up plan ready, if I was planning to use the NCH for Thanksgiving...
Jeff Adamson jeff.adamson@wsdot.wa.gov 509.667.2815
