By the time they clear all this it'll be winter again! Washington highway buried under 75FEET of snow




Running just south of the U.S. border with Canada, you’d expect the North Cascade Highway to be subject to some wintry weather occasionally.

But this weekend drivers on State Route 20 – which passes from Port Townsend in west Washington State to Newport in the east – found that snow chains wouldn’t be sufficient after an incredible 75 feet of snow covered a 40-mile stretch of the highway.

And the heavy snowfall could keep the road closed for another week, which would mark its latest spring reopening in 30 years.

Undercover: The North Cascade Highway in Washington State is still closed to traffic for over 40 miles after 75-ft of snowfall

Open for Memorial Day? Heavy snowfall could keep the road closed for another week, which would mark its latest spring reopening in 30 years

Lot of snow to go: Officials say they don't know when they'll be able to reopen the highway

Officials from the Washington Department of Transportation officials say snow is 75-feet deep this year.

They usually try to clear the snow by Memorial Day weekend, but WSDOT says it likely won't be cleared by then.

‘We're not too comfortable with making any kinds of predictions right now, just because of the unusual spring that it's been,’ said Dustin Terpening, spokesman for the Department of Transportation. ‘We've gotten a lot of snow really late in the spring.’

So much for spring: The snow stretches on for miles

Solid wall of snow: A very sturdy snow plough tackles what seems to be an insurmountable obstacle

The North Cascade Highway, which typically opens for scenic spring driving at some point between late March and May, has only remained closed past Memorial Day weekend once before – in 1974.

The ongoing delays after record snowfalls is likely to have a huge impact on businesses along the highway who are hoping for a spring boost to their takings.

‘I normally by this time have about four people working at my shop, and now I'm here by myself,’ Doug Mohre, owner of Sheri's Sweet Shoppe, was quoted by the Seattle Times as saying this week.



Devastating: The delayed opening of the North Cascade Highway could cripple local businesses

Picturesque - but closed: Crews clearing the road from either end are now just six miles apart, but new avalanches could pose further problems

Crews are also working hard to clear the snow that has engulfed and closed the Chinook and Cayuse passes in the same area.

The last time all three passes were opened so late into the spring season was in 1974 - a year, like 2011, that saw the La Nina storm bring heavy snows.

The North Cascade Highway is closed in the west from milepost 134, to the east of Diablo, and in the east from milepost 171, which sits around 14 miles west of Mazama.

Crews working to remove the snows from each end of the closed stretch, as well as rocks and other detritus, from the highway are reportedly six miles apart but their efforts have been hampered by new avalanches in previously cleared stretches of road, according to the Bellingham Herald.