Going over the mountain passes for Thanksgiving weekend? Here's the best times...



SEATTLE – The going could be tough if you’re planning to head east of the Cascades for Thanksgiving.

Plan on wintry driving conditions over the mountains through the holiday, Q13 Chief Meteorologist Walter Kelley said.

The most snow for the passes will be Thursday night into Friday morning, Kelley said Monday. Snow level stays around 3,000 feet, but expect accumulation on all of the passes.

"Wednesday looks mostly dry, so that looks like a pretty good day to travel," Kelley said.  "Sunday, the return travel day, actually looks mostly dry.

"My take on the weather is that the best time to drive over the passes would be midday Wednesday and midday Sunday. The worst time to drive over the passes would be early Friday."

The forecasting models don't all agree that there will be snow, however, or how much there will be if it does snow.

Snow was falling heavily on Mount Rainier on Monday morning.

Skiing might begin opening up this week. Workers at Mount Baker reported that runs could be open over Thanksgiving weekend.