Get on North Cascades Highway for a scenic drive, you say? Well, not for a while

State Route 20/North Cascades Highway will temporarily close for the safety of crews and travelers because of the possibility of overnight and weekend snow, along with an increased risk of avalanches, Washington State Department of Transportation officials said Thursday.

WSDOT maintenance crews will close the gates at milepost 134 in Diablo and 171 in Mazama at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2.

While WSDOT hopes to reopen the gates again this season, the weather will determine if it’s possible. The steep peaks along this scenic highway have dozens of avalanche chutes that can quickly fill up with unstable snow – creating an unsafe situation for crews working or people driving along this stretch, according a WSDOT news release.

Crews also temporarily closed the highway last month because of heavy snow near Rainy and Washington passes.

Travelers can get real-time information about this stretch of the highway by clicking on the mountain pass tab in the WSDOT traffic app, following the WSDOT East and WSDOT North Twitter accounts or by signing up for North Cascades Highway emails.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Get on North Cascades Highway for a scenic drive, you say? Well, not for a while."