Durango residents were greeted by a snowy start to the week after a quick-moving weak weather disturbance moved across the region early Monday and deposited up to 1½ inches of snow in town.
Megan Stackhouse, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said most of Durango’s neighboring towns were spared.
“On the outskirts of Bayfield and Pagosa Springs, they saw just a couple tenths of an inch on the northern side of Pagosa,” Stackhouse said. “It looks like Durango got the most as far as the valleys are concerned.”
Silverton received about the same amount of snow as Durango. Road cameras show U.S. Highway 550 is mostly clear headed north toward Silverton, but the highway gets snowy nearing Ouray.
“Everything was kind of confined to that 1-to-2 inches,” Stackhouse said.
The storm did little to bolster the base at area ski resorts. Neither Purgatory Resort nor Telluride Ski Resort reported any snowfall after Monday’s storm. Both resorts are set to open later this month. Wolf Creek Pass, which is already running lifts, reported 3 inches of new snow.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center moved conditions in the San Juan Mountains to a “low danger” rating at all elevations Monday and predicts conditions to remain relatively safe on Tuesday.
The icy layer that encrusted sidewalks and car windshields was a result of lower-than-normal temperatures, Stackhouse said. Although no more precipitation is expected this week, low temperatures are expected to remain throughout the week. Daytime highs will hover in the low 40s in the Durango, Bayfield and Cortez areas and drop to the teens at night.
Although no precipitation is expected in the valleys, Stackhouse said the higher peaks in the San Juans could see up to another inch or two of snow as the remnants of the unsettled weather pattern deposits residual moisture.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
