Olympic National Park rangers asked motorists visiting Hurricane Ridge early Sunday afternoon to leave when a snowstorm kicked up heavy winds and near white-out conditions.
Hurricane Ridge Road, which leads 17 miles up from Port Angeles to the park’s ski and snow play area in the Olympic Mountains, was closed about 2 p.m. Sunday when the weather took a turn for the worse, a park spokeswoman said.
“It was a typical sunny day in the park,” Barb Maynes said Sunday night.
Heavy snowfall created icy conditions at the Ridge’s parking lot and the road leading to it, causing two “fender bender” car crashes without injuries.
The driver of car with a flat tire and lug nuts that would not come off had to summon a tow truck, she said.
At about 1:30 p.m., Ranger Bob Morgenstern started to announce to visitors in Ridge’s parking lot: “Please grab your children and belongings. We’re closing down the road. There are cars across the road below.”
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The rest of the story appears in the Monday Peninsula Daily News.
