3 Cascade Mountain passes close due to snow; more rain, wind expected Sunday

A storm that led to a freak deadly accident in Shoreline and flooding in Westport, Grays Harbor County, also closed three passes in the Cascade Mountains Saturday.

And, says the National Weather Service, we won't get much of a break anytime soon.

The forecast calls for another wet, windy storm late tonight through Monday, with gusts up to 50 mph.

Cayuse and Chinook passes were closed temporarily on Saturday morning because of heavy snowfall, and the North Cascades pass was closed Saturday because of avalanche danger.

Traffic engineers planned to re-evaluate accessibility of all three passes Monday, said Michell Mouton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

"We'll take it storm by storm through the week to see if we can get these roads back open," she said.

The storms, which began Thursday, were caused by a burst of cold air mixing with warm, wet air, said meteorologist Chris Burke of the weather service. The mixing released latent heat in the moist clouds, causing instability.

That translated into up to 1 ½ inches of rain over 48 hours and high wind gusts.

One of those gusts led to the death of Patrick R. Duff, 32, as he and his wife walked their dog in Shoreline on Thursday evening. Duff was killed instantly when a tree limb snapped off and struck him.

In Westport, unusually large ocean swells of up to 23 feet hammered the town's jetty on Saturday, flooding the marina district with up to 14 inches of water, said Westport police Officer Chuck Cunningham.

On Saturday afternoon, 20-foot swells were coming in 17-second intervals, forcing businesses to put sandbags at their doors. The biggest problem, Cunningham said, was caused by cars driving through the flooded streets, causing wakes that topped the sandbags.

Burke, the meteorologist, said the next storm should dump about a half-inch of rain in Seattle and several inches in the mountains.

The most unusual element of the recent storms, he said, was the "lineup" of thunder and lightning Thursday night. Except for that, the weather has been predictable for fall in Seattle.

"Everybody is always surprised by the fall, and yet it comes every year," said Burke.

Material from The Seattle Times archives was included in this report.

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com