State Route 18 closed over Tiger Mountain Monday evening, as well as eastbound Interstate 90, due to weather conditions and spinouts.
GOLD BAR, Wash. — Heavy snow in the Cascade mountains and some accumulations in the lowlands are making for difficult travel conditions Monday morning.
There were between 10 to 15 inches of new snow in the mountain passes between Sunday and Monday morning. More is expected to fall throughout the day.
On Monday evening, more roads were closed.
State Route 18 over Tiger Mountain, as well as eastbound Interstate 90 in North Bend, were closed due to weather conditions and spinouts. There is no estimated time for reopening.
SR 18 was also closed in both directions over Tiger Mountain Summit for hours overnight due to spinouts and multiple disabled vehicles. The roadway then reopened at around 3 a.m.
Around 6 inches of snow fell on Stevens Pass. 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 also fell in the convergence zone over Snohomish County overnight. KING 5 reported slushy road conditions around Lynnwood, however, temperatures are above freezing, so the slush is expected to melt as the morning goes on.
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 on Monday morning. 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.
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
