Highway 20 pass closed until spring

A section of Highway 20 will be closed until spring 2016 after storms hitting Western Washington brought heavy snow to the North Cascades.

The North Cascades Highway was closed last week between milepost 134, east of Diablo, and milepost 171, 14 miles west of Mazama. With the heavy snow that fell over the weekend, the Washington State Department of Transportation decided Monday, Nov. 16, to keep the highway closed for the winter.

WSDOT crews encountered four avalanches that blocked lanes on Monday. They also found 2 new feet of snow with ice on top, and the forecast calls for up to 4 feet of new snow by Wednesday. Those conditions create an environment unsafe for travelers and crews, according to the WSDOT.

The highway closed for the season on Nov. 24 last year. The earliest closure recorded was Nov. 2, 2005. Avalanches usually close the highway between Thanksgiving and the second week of December, according to the WSDOT.

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Highway 20 pass closed until spring."