After being slammed shut by Mother Nature's icy grip, Snoqualmie Pass has creaked back open. The Seattle Times reports the critical artery of I-90 saw westbound lanes resuscitated around 6:30 a.m., while the eastbound pulse returned to rhythm just before 8 a.m. But the thaw comes with a steel chain attached — if you're not driving all-wheel drive, you're driving with chains, and if you're oversized, you're not driving at all.
When the highway was closed due to hazardous conditions, WSP troopers were out in the cold responding to the wreckage of human error on ice. Among the chaos, followed by more crashes west of the closure area, a WSP Trooper, doing his duty at the scene, felt the blow of a driver's vehicle strike his patrol car around midnight. KING 5 relays that the trooper, although hit with non-life-threatening injuries, was hospitalized, and the driver is under investigation for possible impairment. Meanwhile, another incident involving three vehicles, including a semitruck, added to the tally with undisclosed injuries.
The words of Trooper Rick Johnson stand as a chilly reminder of the hazard roads present. He told KING 5 about the deceptive nature of the pass, "I think people are lulled into a sense of, 'It's not closed here, it's not going to be slippery,' but it's very slippery everywhere." He enforced his concerns by describing micro-climates along the highway that can transition rapidly, dropping several degrees into icy conditions within moments.
Despite roads opening up, danger hasn't clocked out just yet. KIRO 7 painted today's forecast with broad, heavy strokes of snow — up to two inches per hour until the late afternoon. Travelers seeking to navigate the reopened but still treacherous corridors of I-90 are advised to either delay or abandon their plans, unless absolutely necessary.
