Dan_Miller Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 NORTH CASCADE HWY Elevation: 5477ft / 1669M Temperature:N/A Conditions & Weather: Pass is to close tonight at 7 PM. Compact snow and ice on the roadway. Traction Tires Advised, Oversize Vehicles Prohibited // Snowing Updated: 10:57 AM, Nov 30, 2007 This is the most current info available and is promptly updated when conditions change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodchips Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 NORTH CASCADE HWY Elevation: 5477ft / 1669M Temperature:N/A Conditions & Weather: Pass is to close tonight at 7 PM. Compact snow and ice on the roadway. Traction Tires Advised, Oversize Vehicles Prohibited // Snowing Updated: 10:57 AM, Nov 30, 2007 This is the most current info available and is promptly updated when conditions change It may only be a temporary closure. Here's a copy of the email update they sent out this morning: Hi all, If you plan to go over the North Cascades today - do it before 7 p.m. tonight. We're temporarily closing the highway between the two gates (MP 134 on the west side, above Diablo-37 miles to the Silver Star Gate at MP 171 near Mazama on the east side). The road is fine right now, but the forecast for tomorrow and Sunday is for lots of snow and worse than that - wind at the elevation of Rainy and Washington Passes of 80 to 100 MPH. Coupled with the snow - that's not safe for our crews or you to be up there. By 7 p.m., most of the back country skiers who are up there today will have come out (we'll sweep all the parking areas to make sure nobody gets stuck behind the gates). By closing at Seven, we'll stop any Saturday morning back country skiers from getting up there - the dangerous weather won't actually start until Saturday. Our avalanche control techs expect the Liberty Bell avalanche chutes will likely fill and dump by Sunday morning. The forecast takes a dramatic change on Monday - freezing level rising to 8,000 feet and temps going up into the 40's, with rain. What will that do to the snow stability? That's the question - depending on how it all happens - that is, temperature, snowfall, rain and the layering that produces in the avalanche chutes - will determine if it's safe to reopen or not. They'll make that evaluation on TUESDAY - so, if we can work up there safely, it' s still likely going to be late Wednesday or Thursday before it would be open to traffic again. (No one likes to say it - but if we get a foot or two of snow this weekend - I'm not holding my breath waiting for a reopening...) A side note: Our Twisp maintenance supervisor, Don Becker, is particularly pleased with the work his crew has done over the past several weeks - particularly the Thanksgiving holiday. While it has been expensive - the combination of liquid anti icer applications before the snow, and the crystal deicer and anti icer treated sand (plus the plowing) has produced better driving conditions, during snow events and a faster return to bare and wet conditions - so KUDOs to the troops! I'll let you know what Tuesday's evaluation produces as soon as the avalanche crew gets back in cell phone range and calls me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_Miller Posted November 30, 2007 Author Share Posted November 30, 2007 Ahh, the immediacy of CC.com. Thanks for the clarification Woodchips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodchips Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 Ahh, the immediacy of CC.com. Thanks for the clarification Woodchips! Yeah, gotta love it. You can sign up for the email update by emailing this guy: AdamsoJ@wsdot.wa.gov and asking to be added to the Hwy 20 update list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbb Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 temporary closures this time of year usually continue as season closures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 Especially after there is a winter storm warning in effect Sat and Sun that promises to dump a foot of snow down to 500 ft elevation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrogers Posted December 1, 2007 Share Posted December 1, 2007 We were one of the last groups of folks up skiing at Rainy Pass today- the WSDOT kindly left us a note informing us of the impending closure. Just glad we didn't have to drive back to Mazama via Stevens Pass tonight. Our tour took us up to the ridge and bowl to looker's left of Whistler Peak. Got some nice turns in, as well as a few rocks. Definite sun crust is some spots with some nice fluff on top. Got very cold after noon. Good day to be on my split- other than the tight trees and lots of traversing on the way out. Thanks to my partners for breaking trail for the gumby today. I do have to say the folks at WSDOT did do an amazing job keeping it open and very drivable this fall... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurthicks Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 FYI: Hi all, The crew went up to the North Cascades to do an assessment for reopening - It's closed - there were too many avalanches that had come in (and the rain was brutal.) Yesterday there was 40 inches of snow at the Silver Star Gate west of Mazama - this morning it had soaked down to 27 inches of heavy, wet snow because of the rain. It's 37 degrees and raining right now and that rain has caused all the snow accumulated over the last four days to dump from the avalanche chutes onto the road. Frankly, the avalanche danger is much reduced today, from yesterday, but there's simply too much snow - reopening would require an effort on par with what we have to do in the spring. Obviously, it doesn't make much sense to even consider starting a reopening that would take 3 to 4 weeks even if we didn't get any more snow! Today, the crew is just cleaning up to the gate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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