Cooler spring keeping mountain passes on ice

Associated Press

TACOMA — Deep snow in the Cascade Range will probably prevent Chinook Pass from opening in time for the Memorial Day weekend.

And statistics suggest a lukewarm summer may follow the nippy spring. Cooler-than-normal summers follow cold springs eight times out of 10, said Carl Cerniglia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"It’s beginning at this point to look like we may end up cooler than normal," he said.

Meanwhile, the mountain passes look like they are stuck in winter.

Avalanche danger is a threat at the 5,430-foot-high pass on Highway 410, one of the gateways to Mount Rainier National Park.

"There’s still an avalanche threat because it hasn’t been warm up there," said Mike Westbay, a spokesman for state Department of Transportation’s south-central region. "It has been cold, so the snowpack has remained in place."

Snowplow crews working from the east side of the mountains reached the summit Thursday. Westbay said the pass may not open until the second week of June, and then only if the weather cooperates.

"If it snows again, it could be later than that," he said.

The latest opening date in the past decade was June 14.

Last year, a drought year, Chinook Pass opened May 10, the fourth-earliest opening since 1943. Washington 410 remained open throughout the winter of 1976-77 because of mild weather and drought conditions.

Also still closed is nearby Cayuse Pass, elevation 4,675 feet, on Highway 123. An estimated opening date has not been determined, the department said. Cayuse Pass opened April 20 last year.

Inside Mount Rainier National Park, the Stevens Canyon road isn’t expected to open by the Memorial Day weekend May 25-27.

"It’s been such a cool spring," said Jon Jarvis, the park superintendent. "There’s a lot of snow on the ground."

Crews, plowing their way east on the road through snow at least 12 feet deep, have gotten only as far as the Bench Lake trailhead. The snow reaches a depth of 30 feet in places where avalanche debris has accumulated.

Plows clear about four-tenths of a mile "on a good day," Jarvis said. Most days, they get through half that.

Stevens Canyon Road runs from an intersection above Narada Falls past 4,854-foot-high Reflection Lakes and east down Stevens Canyon to the park entrance north of Ohanapecosh.

The frozen snowpack is a result of the region’s unseasonably chilly spring. Low-pressure storm systems from British Columbia hovered over Puget Sound through April and the first weeks of May.