GOLD BAR, Wash. — Heavy snow in the Cascade mountains and some accumulations in the lowlands will make for difficult travel into Tuesday.
It is expected that between 6 and 12 inches will fall around Stevens and Snoqualmie passes by 4 a.m. Tuesday.
Over the last 48 hours, Stevens Pass recorded 16 inches of snow, Mt. Baker saw 13 inches and Snoqualmie Pass saw 14 inches. Crystal Mountain recorded 12 inches and White Pass got 22 inches in that time frame.
On Monday evening, multiple roads were closed due to hazardous weather conditions.
State Route 18 over Tiger Mountain, as well as eastbound Interstate 90 in North Bend, were closed due to weather conditions and spinouts. I-90 reopened just before 9 p.m., but SR 18 remains closed.
SR 18 was also closed in both directions over Tiger Mountain Summit for hours overnight due to spinouts and multiple disabled vehicles.
Plows are driving through the area to keep conditions as clear as possible, but snow is expected to continue falling through the morning. Drivers are asked to go slowly, leave extra room between themselves and other cars and give themselves extra time to arrive at their destinations.
Drivers are asked to stay up to date on travel conditions if they're traveling over the passes on Monday.
Snow will continue to fall into Tuesday morning and with freezing temperatures, drivers might experience patchy ice during the morning commute.
On Monday morning, there was a crash near Everett just south of 128th Street Southwest, which blocked the two right lanes of northbound Interstate 5 for a few hours. That crash cleared at around 6:40 a.m.
There were brief power outages in the north Puget Sound and on Whidbey Island amid gusty winds Sunday night. At one point, the power went out at a Shoreline Costco while customers were still inside the store, causing an alarm to go off. Power has since been restored to Seattle City Light customers. Puget Sound Energy has fewer than 1,000 customers without power.
Storms like this one have not been prevalent this winter.
"We kinda skated through December, January, ya know? And usually, that’s the time of year we get wet snow and things like that," said Linda Stephenson, a longtime Everett resident.
Everett was one area in the region that saw multiple hailstorms on Monday.
"I can't wait til spring, jeez. I wonder what's coming then,” Stephenson said.
Mountain pass travel during snowfall
Drivers traveling over the mountain passes during periods of heavy snowfall are asked to keep a close eye on travel conditions and travel with tire chains and emergency supplies.
Check mountain passes
Here is what WSDOT suggests drivers pack in their emergency drive kit when traveling in hazardous weather:
- Flashlight
- Batteries
- Blanket
- Snacks
- Water
- Gloves
- Boots
- First-aid kit
- Tire chains
- Ice scraper/snowbrush
- Jumper cables
- Road flares