Washington State Route Closed for Avalanche Danger. See the Cleanup

The warm weather has created avalanche danger on at least one Washington State highway causing authorities to close it until further notice.

Avalanche Danger in Washington State

The warm weather in the northwest almost always causes avalanche danger somewhere every year. Over the last few days, they have struggled with avalanche cleanup on Washington SR 2 around Stevens Pass and Tumwater Canyon. A few days ago they had to clean up multiple avalanches, and again today they had to close part of the highway because of avalanche danger.

WSDOT Crews Just Finished Clearing the Area of Avalanches

On January 9th, WSDOT posted pictures of their crews clearing the snow after multiple avalanches on Twitter. The avalanches all seemed small from the pictures but still closed roads for an amount of time. Today, US 2 at Stevens Pass is back open but the area through Tumwater Canyon remains closed because of the elevated avalanche danger.

How Does WSDOT Fight Avalanche Danger?

Usually, they have an explosive expert trigger a controlled avalanche in the assigned danger area. Then WSDOT crews clean the mess after the controlled avalanche is triggered. The amount of time crews need to keep the area closed depends on how much snow has to be removed for that section of road to be safe again for travelers. Follow WSDOT East on Twitter for updates on avalanche danger and clean up in this area of Washington State. Happy travels, be safe!