SNOQUALMIE PASS, WA – A white winter may sound beautiful but driving in it, not so much.
“This morning Snoqualmie Pass had snow fall, often times over two inches of snow per hour, and so our general threshold is over one inch is a little bit hard for our crews to keep up with and so we are well exceeding that” said Summer Derrey, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Snoqualmie pass hit some high-flying numbers for snowfall.
“This is a record breaking snowfall year” said Derrey. “Just over night we had 19 inches of snow fall and so, I need to double check the numbers, but were in second place for the second highest snow fall in two decades on Snoqualmie Pass.”
As the weather continues to create dangerous driving conditions, they can’t promise the passes will open up anytime soon.
“We’re doing a lot of avalanche control work and our snowplows are out trying to clear the road ways as quickly and safely as possible to get the road ways reopen” said Derrey. “However we’re still in a winter storm warning, it’s still snowing very heavy out there and we do not have an estimate of reopening time, this is for the safety of the traveling public.”
WSDOT is not recommending people travel far this week because of driving conditions.
“Across state travel this is really not the week to travel” said Derrey. “From what I’m hearing from the forecast Wednesday, Thursday we’re going to also have another very large event, so if you have a plane to catch or a doctors appointment on the westside try to either reschedule or adjust your plans accordingly.”
When I spoke to the owner of PNW CDL Training he told me he tries to make all his students aware of the risks they will be taking with truck driving.
“We tell everybody whos looking at doing the training who wants to be a professional driver to be the captain of their own ship” said Brandon Tatro, owner of PNW CDL Training. “You know whether its going to be safe or not.”
If you do have to travel this week make sure you’re prepared for the weather like, “snow shovels, blankets, flashlights, hand warmers, bottled water, some food, drink, light sticks” said Tatro.
Additional things like chains, snow melt, tire repair, extra gloves, jumper cables, a snow scrapper, some extra clothing and some toilet paper.
Also, if you are waiting on packages to be delivered, they might be delayed due to the weather conditions.
When I reached out to the Washington Trucking Associations they told me that safety is a top concern for them and while pass closures are frustrating they want to make sure everyone driving is safe.
