OKANOGAN – The North Cascades Highway’s winter closure gates will swing closed at 8 p.m. tonight in advance of forecast heavy snow storms over the next several days. Road conditions, avalanche danger, and weather forecasts for Thanksgiving week will be reassessed on Mon., Nov. 21, to determine if SR 20 can be reopened. The National Weather Service is predicting up to 22 inches of snow by Thursday morning with more fronts bringing more snow through the weekend.

WSDOT maintenance crews have been working around the clock since Friday plowing and sanding the 3 to 5 inches of snow that has fallen each day since then. This morning at Washington Pass, 4 inches of new snow was on the pavement, with more than 20 inches accumulated on the shoulders.

Last year the highway closed on Dec. 1. The 37-mile winter closure zone begins seven miles east of Diablo Dam at milepost 134 on the west side of Rainy Pass (4,855 feet) to nine miles west of Mazama at milepost 171 below Washington Pass ( 5,477 feet).

Last spring’s May 23 reopening was the second latest in the highway’s 39-year history. It typically opens between the last week in March and the first week in May. The earliest opening ever was March 10, 2005. One drought year, four years after the highway first opened in 1976, it remained open all winter.