More snow on the way for battered mountain passes



SNOQUALMIE PASS -- On Monday, the drive along I-90 started out dry but quickly turned wet. Then the surface turned to slush, then to snow and ice.

"I expect it to be kind of hairy. I mean it's been closed twice today for a reason,” truck driver Kathy Taylor said.

I-90 was shut down in both directions for hours. The backup at one time stretched more than 15 miles.

All drivers could do was wait.

"I’ve been doing it for almost 40 years.  It's part of the deal. You come to the great Northwest, you got to play the game,” truck driver Jerry Dunn said.

Forty years and hundreds of thousands of miles, Dunn has put the chains on and taken them off many, many times.

It takes him just 15 minutes.

"If you know what you're doing, and keep your stuff organized, it doesn't take long,” Dunn said.

The road had to be closed for snow removal and to clear away all the cars that slip and spun-out and crashed into the median.

Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported.

"It's really stressful, man, really stressful. Because I got to chain-up and remove the chains and too much work, man,” truck driver Ignasio Farios said.

"Snow and ice doesn't bother me, it's just concern for my family, the reason I put the chains o.  I've got good tires on here anyway but it doesn't hurt to be extra safe,” driver Butch Clark said.

Two more storms are on the way, the snow level here will drop to 1,000 feet and that could mean another 20 to 40 inches of snow on our passes.