Crews temporarily closed the highway at noon Monday, Nov. 19, when snow began falling at the rate of more than two inches per hour, causing three snowslides. “By Tuesday morning, we had 19 to 20 inches of new, heavy, wet snow,” said Twisp maintenance supervisor Don Becker. “That brings the total on the shoulders of the highway to 38 to 42 inches, and it only takes 2 to 3 feet of snow to fill up the avalanche chutes.”
Slides below the Liberty Bell avalanche chutes, just east of Washington Pass, dumped snow on the highway – the largest was 14 feet deep and 50 feet wide. Below the passes, heavy rain caused mud, rocks and trees to spill across the road.
“It’s just not safe for our crews or the public to be up on the highway,” Becker said.
North Cascades Hwy closed for season
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