SNOQUALMIE PASS – Winter weather is trying to make up for the not-so-cold shoulder it gave the North Cascades last season.
Following the snowiest December on record, snow continues to pile up, creating dicey conditions in some areas for backcountry travelers.
Temporary closures of Interstate 90 for avalanche control work at Snoqualmie Pass have been frequent.
The pass has already experienced more than double the snowfall thus far in the 2015-16 winter season than it saw all of last winter. A total of 104 inches of snow fell at Snoqualmie last winter.
December 2015 was the snowiest December on record at Snoqualmie Pass, according to data provided by the state Department of Transportation. The pass saw 194 inches – more than 16 feet – of snow in December, marking the most cumulative snowfall for any December in the last 66 years. December 2015 also ranked as the sixth-snowiest of any single month in Snoqualmie history, dating back to the winter of 1949-50.
The pass has received more than 217 inches of total snowfall, or about 18 feet, so far in the 2015-16 winter season. The five-year average as of Dec. 30 is about 111 inches, according to the WSDOT.
The most snow to fall at the pass in the last five years was in 2010-11, when 498 inches of total snowfall landed at Snoqualmie over the course of the winter. Total snowfall has declined each year since then until this year.
The snowiest winter at Snoqualmie Pass was recorded in 1955-56, when a cumulative total of 828 inches – 69 feet – of snow fell. The 263 inches of snowfall in January 1964 marked the most snow at the pass in any single month in its history.
