North Cascades Highway Closes at Midnight, Dec. 11

A weekend forecast for 1-1/2 to 3-feet of snow, high winds and much colder temperatures beginning Friday has prompted the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to temporarily close the North Cascades Highway at midnight Thursday, December 11. Twisp WSDOT Maintenance Supervisor Don Becker says, “Avalanche chutes can fill and release in as few as 20 minutes under the right conditions which is faster than we can react to keep motorists or our crews safe. We don’t want to risk back country recreationists getting caught in a potentially dangerous storm event either. We’ll go back in on Monday and evaluate conditions for reopening.”

Becker says crews will check all the parking areas between the two closure gates to “make sure everyone is out.”  While the storm front isn’t expected to bring the heavy snow until Friday afternoon, “Having the gates closed Thursday night will keep anyone who didn’t get the word from getting up there and caught in the weather event that’s coming.”

WSDOT  said the closure will take place from milepost 134 on the west side to milepost 170 on the east side due to the pending snowstorm. WSDOT will assess the avalanche conditions on Monday, Dec. 15 and determine if the road can be reopend or will be closed for the winter.

The North Cascades Highway usually closes between Thanksgiving week and mid December, re-opening in late April or early May.  The highway closed last winter on December 4th and reopened last spring, on May 1st.

Visit the North Cascades WSDOT web page for more info, current conditions and historical opening and closing dates since the highway first opened in 1972.