Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Oregon Department of Transportation reopened the critical Highway 20 corridor Wednesday between Salem and Bend.  It had been closed for almost 24 hours.

Climatologists are worried the recent avalanches on the highway are signs of things to come. Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports.

The repeated avalanches that closed Highway 20 this week all occurred at one spot.

Hogg Rock -- an angled outcropping west of Sisters.

Garth Ferber is a meteorologist at the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center in Seattle.

He says Northwest snow usually packs well, minimizing avalanches.

But when a lot of that wet snow comes in a short period of time...well....

Garth Ferber: “Certainly, the Northwest has been getting a lot more than usual amount of snow during this past month. And it has resulted in a lot of avalanche cycles and unfortunately quite a few avalanche accidents.”

One Highway 20 avalanche trapped motorists in their cars for less than an hour.  No one was hurt.

However, in Washington, eight people have died in avalanches this winter. The most of any state in the country.