Outdoors

Mount Rainier National Park closes due to snow

A snowplow clears the parking lot at the Longmire area of Mount Rainier National Park on Monday morning during a snowstorm. The park was closed for the day because of the snow and resulting power outages, the National Park Service announced on Twitter.
A snowplow clears the parking lot at the Longmire area of Mount Rainier National Park on Monday morning during a snowstorm. The park was closed for the day because of the snow and resulting power outages, the National Park Service announced on Twitter. Mount Rainier National Park Courtesy

Mount Rainier National Park closed Monday after a snowstorm made opening the park too perilous, according to the National Park Service.

Power outages and difficult travel conditions pushed rangers to decide to close the park at 10 a.m., the park announced on Twitter.

The Paradise area has seen more than 23 inches of snow in the past 48 hours, according to Weather Service data.

The snowpack at Paradise jumped from 99 inches at midnight Friday to 132 inches at 5 p.m. Sunday. The heaviest snowfall came early Saturday morning when it was coming down at .43 inches per hour. The gauge was not properly recording data Monday morning.

The park, under a winter storm warning from the National Weather Service, had already decided to not open the road to Paradise, and chains were to be required for traveling in the park.

The winter storm warning for the Cascades expires at 4 p.m. Monday.

Staff writer Jeffrey P. Mayor contributed to this report.

Kenny Ocker: 253-597-8627, @KennyOcker

This story was originally published February 6, 2017 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Mount Rainier National Park closes due to snow."

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