The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the Four Corners beginning Tuesday evening in anticipation of a powerful storm that will pass through the area Wednesday. The storm will bring up to a foot of snow to the area and wind gusts reaching 35 mph in the valleys.
“It’s going to have a good deal of energy with it,” said Mark Miller, a NWS meteorologist in the Grand Junction office.
The warning applies to Cortez, Dove Creek, Mancos, Durango, Bayfield, Ignacio and Pagosa Springs with an expected snow accumulation of 4 to 10 inches.
Snow totals will increase moving north from the Colorado-New Mexico line. Miller said lower elevation areas to the south might see between 2 and 4 inches of snow, while the upper peaks of the San Juan Mountains could receives as much as 2 feet of snow. Those peaks are also likely to see wind gusts up to 55 mph, the warning said.
Temperatures in Cortez, Durango and Pagosa Springs on Wednesday should sit in the mid-30s.
The warning also said mountain passes are likely to see “blizzard-like conditions,” and Miller said travel is expected to be hazardous.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if (Red Mountain, Coal Bank and Molas passes) are closed just to get ahead of it,” he said. “Travel (Wednesday) is not looking good.”
The storm is moving in from the Pacific Northwest, depositing snow over the Cascade Range and the Wasatch Range before moving through the Four Corners and heading toward the northern plains.
“This is going to be a really big storm that affects a lot of the country,” Miller said.
The high-energy storm will begin to ramp up Tuesday night, hit in full force Wednesday, and decelerate by late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
Avalanche conditions in the San Juans are likely to jump to a “considerable” level Wednesday, indicating a level 3 out of 5 on the danger scale, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. An avalanche watch is in effect from Tuesday morning through Thursday afternoon.
Durango School District 9-R makes decisions about canceling schools between midnight and 4 a.m., and district spokeswoman Karla Sluis confirmed that no decision regarding the status of school openings will be made in advance.
9-R is already two days short of state-mandated instruction hours as a result of snow cancellations this year.
Sluis said a survey will help the district decide whether hours should be made up by extending the school day, using professional development days for instruction or adding days at the end of the year. Families will be consulted on the matter in the near future.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
