![]() Take advantage before El Nino brings warm winter in 2024 While the amount of snow is way up, Oregon’s precipitation remains below normal, at 95% of normal statewide and 87% of normal in the Willamette Basin, leading to low levels in reservoirs such as Detroit Lake. Much will depend on how quickly the snow melts. The excess snow should mean reduced wildfire danger in the early summer along with an extended winter recreation season. Oregon had big snow years in 20, but this year has gradually surpassed both in terms of snow following a very cool and wet March and early April.Īpril 1 is the traditional date of peak mountain snow in Oregon and is considered important because it helps officials project what type of spring and summer the state can expect. In the Willamette Basin - including the Central Cascades east of Salem - snowpack is 178% of normal. The state's snowpack reached 172% of normal on Tuesday, a metric that takes into account how this year's snow stacks up against the last 30 years. For a history of opening and closing dates, maps, photos and progress reports on the 2015 opening, visit wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades.Oregon's mountain snowpack ballooned to its highest levels since 2008 after a blizzard slammed the Cascade Range with 20 to 30 inches of snow last weekend. The annual reopening of Highway 20 requires a monumental effort from WSDOT crews. The earliest opening was March 10, 2005, but two weeks later snow closed the highway for another 10 days and didn’t reopen again until April 4. The highway has only been open through the winter one year, 1977, due to a drought. The scenery at Washington Pass is hard to beat.” The south facing aspects softened by noon and skied very smoothly. “The opening weekend was like a party, and everyone seemed to have a good time,”Ĭhapin said. Radka Chapin, from Redmond, said skiing conditions were good in Washington Pass over the weekend, with 1–2 inches of new powder on top of a firm base. After opening the highway mid-morning April 3, crews swept the entire 37-mile winter closure zone for sand, rocks and debris, cleared any snow from below avalanche chutes and applied sand or deicer as needed.Īfter the highway opened on Friday, scores of recreational enthusiasts took advantage of sunny weather and headed to Washington Pass for hiking and backcountry skiing. According to the WSDOT, this year’s reopening effort was the shortest in the highway’s 42-year history.ĭuring the few days before the opening, crews saw a foot of snowfall at some locations and performed avalanche control to clear the chutes so the highway could be safely opened. ![]() It took workers six weeks to clear the highway in 2014, but this year the clearing process took only three weeks due to low snowpack. “We all live up here and know it’s important for local businesses to have the highway open for Easter, the lowland fishing season and ’49er Days Festival in Winthrop,” said Don Becker, highway maintenance supervisor. Although communities on the east side of the highway such as Winthrop and Mazama can still be accessed from the east and south during winter months, Highway 20 provides a more direct connection for coastal communities on the west side of the North Cascades. ![]() Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) crews began clearing snow March 16 and opened the gates April 3. The hiking, skiing and climbing season in the North Cascades mountains along Highway 20 will get off to an early start as the North Cascades Highway opened to traffic in record time due to low snowpack. ![]()
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