Date:
Friday, November 30, 2007
Contact:
WSDOT NC Region Communications Manager Jeff Adamson, Wenatchee (509) 667-2815 Cell: (509) 669-8778 E-Mail: adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov
WSDOT Area 3 Maintenance Superintendent Dean Hills, Okanogan (509) 826-7364
WENATCHEE – A weekend forecast for heavy snow and winds on Saturday and Sunday from 80 to 100 MPH is prompting the Washington State Department of Transportation to temporarily close the North Cascades Highway at 7 p.m. tonight (Friday, November 30). Twisp Maintenance Supervisor Don Becker says, “It’s not safe for our crews or the public to be up there under those conditions. We’ll go back in on Tuesday and evaluate whether we can reopen.”
Back country skiers will have typically left for home by 7 p.m. Becker says crews will check all the parking areas between the two closure gates to “make sure everyone is out.” While the dangerous weather conditions won’t begin until Saturday, “Having the gates closed on Saturday morning will keep anyone who didn’t get the word from getting up there and caught in the weather that’s coming.”
The forecast changes dramatically on Monday with rain, a freezing level rising to as high as 8,000 feet and temperatures as high as 40 degrees. North Central Region Avalanche Control Technician Mike Stanford says he expects the Liberty Bell Mountain avalanche chutes, just east of Washington Pass to fill and release by Sunday morning if the weather comes in as forecast. The key to reopening is stability of the snow in the chutes and that will depend on how much snow comes down, how quickly the temperature changes and how much rain falls. Stanford says, “By Tuesday, we could be looking at avalanche chutes with firm and stable snow or dangerous layers of unstable snow.” If it can be reopened, it will likely take crews a day or more to clear the roadway for traffic.
SR 20 is gated closed between (MP 134) seven miles east of Diablo Dam on the west side of 4,855’ Rainy Pass and (MP 171) nine miles west of Mazama on the east side of 5,477’ Washington Pass.
The closure of the North Cascades forces SR 20 travelers to use US 2 Stevens pass. Traffic there was already expected to be higher than normal due to the first weekend of the Leavenworth Christmas Lighting Festival coupled with Mission Ridge, near Wenatchee, being one of only three Cascade ski areas open this weekend. Leavenworth's exposure on ABC's Good Morning America on Thursday is expected to attract even more than the usual number of visitors. Typical daily traffic volume over Stevens pass is 5,000 or less - this weekend, that could easily double.
The North Cascades Highway usually closes between Thanksgiving week and mid December, re-opening in late April or early May. In 2003, the highway closed very early, on October 17th, due to rock and mudslides, not snow. During the drought winter of ’76-’77, the highway remained open all winter. The North Cascades experienced its earliest opening ever in the spring of 2005 when traffic began flowing on March 10th only to close 16 days later due to a late season snowfall. The highway closed last winter on November 13th and reopened this spring on April 26th.
Visit the North Cascades Web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades that includes the opening and closing dates since it opened in 1972.
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