Heavy snow and spinouts forced the closure of Snoqualmie Pass eastbound for a short time this Sunday afternoon. This, as other drivers stopped to chain up.
The snow kept plows busy much of this day.
Snow fell all daylong on I-90. It stopped then started up again just before night fell.
It made for mostly slow going for those headed over Snoqualmie Pass.
It was quite a day and now night here at Snoqualmie Pass. Heavy snow fell much of this Sunday.
This would almost certainly be a beautiful snowy sight for these drivers if they were moving.
So, Hayden Wisman, Tacoma, was asked, did he expect to be trapped now? “No, absolutely not,” he said.
But just before one o’clock, he and his passengers were stopped in their tracks along with just about everybody on I-90 heading east.
“It’s been fun though, absolutely,” Wisman said. “We saw it snowing earlier. But it was just like we wanted to come up here, go sledding, go have fun, and just enjoy our time.”
It wasn’t quite so much fun for those who had to put on chains.
“It’s my first time putting it on,” confessed Jacob Renouf. “So, I don’t know if you want to record it.”
That’s right. Jacob Renouf was putting on chains for the very first time. He toiled away while his friend, Chelsea Chen, and his dog frolicked in the snow for the first time.
“Yeah, so she’s so happy,” said Chen, laughing.
That’s likely because Oreo is a Samoan Husky-Collie mix. And this weather is just how she likes it.
She’s at home now, agreed Chen who had her on a leash. “Yeah.”
As for Chen? “I feel pretty happy, too, because my dog is happy,” she said.
Not so happy, perhaps, the many truckers we found chaining up. After all, Enrique Lopez has worked this route for 25 years here all the way from Southern California.
“Every winter, every year,” said Lopez. So, he knows how it goes. “Yeah, exactly,” he said. “Yeah.”
Once I-90 reopened, the plows were out once again, working hard to keep the freeway open.
In my experience it goes much worse once night falls. So, the best advice as always is to go slowly and do what the signs say, the better to avoid spinning out and a $500 ticket.
That’s what it costs if you break the law up here.