If you’re looking forward to ski season, this weather is for you.

Area ski areas reported 1 to 2 feet from the system that moved through during the weekend, and at Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort, officials reported that conditions through the week looked ideal for making snow.

Even in town, an inch or 2 lingered from the weekend storm, and more was possible overnight Monday, a National Weather Service meteorologist said.

“You’ll get an accumulation of a couple of inches,” Norv Larson said. “But uphill from you, there could be 5 to 10 inches.”

Today was expected to be clearer and cooler, he said.

The high temperatures should be in the mid- to upper 40s today, Larson said.

“The next precipitation in your area should be late this weekend,” Larson said.

In Durango, Bill Butler reported a total of 6 inches of snow in the Rafter J subdivision – 1.6 inches Saturday morning, 3.6 inches Sunday morning and 0.8 of an inch Monday.

In Hesperus, Derek Snyder measured 6 inches over the weekend. It was wet snow with a lot of water in it, he said. Durango weather watcher Briggen Wrinkle reported just 0.01 of an inch of precipitation in Durango for the 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. Monday.

Colorado Department of Transportation crews stayed busy over the weekend, agency spokeswoman Nancy Shanks said.

Red Mountain Pass received 18 inches of snow Saturday and Sunday, she said. Fourteen inches fell on Molas Pass, and Coal Bank Pass received 15 inches, she said.

The requirement that commercial vehicles use chains on the passes was lifted early Monday morning, Shanks said.

Highways will remain wet and could be icy this morning, she said.

Two CDOT snowplows rescued a stranded bus filled with traveling journalists Monday at the east side of Cumbres Pass on Colorado Highway 17 just before 5 p.m.

“Living in the deep South, you just don’t see things like this,” said Sammy Fretwell, a writer for The State, a Columbia, S.C. newspaper.

Despite chains, the 55-passenger bus was unable to traverse the road. The group had already changed plans to arrive in La Plata County via Wolf Creek Pass because of weather predictions.

The journalists from nine states are on a nine-day tour of energy projects in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico as part of a fellowship program through Institutes For Journalism & Natural Resources.

While travelers faced frustrations, ski areas operators were ecstatic.

Rosanne Pitcher, director of marketing at Wolf Creek Ski Area, said the resort had received 22 inches of snow since Saturday, bringing its year-to-date total to 96 inches. There is a 56-inch base at the summit, she said.

Wolf Creek’s Oct. 8 opening made it the first ski area in Colorado to open this year.

The U.S. freestyle ski team is scheduled to start training at Wolf Creek soon, Pitcher said. Head coach Scott Rawles was there Monday checking out the terrain, she said.

Sven Brunso, vice president of sales and marketing at Durango Mountain Resort, said Purgatory had received about a foot during the weekend with more coming. In addition to that, the ski area has been making snow since early November.

Brunso said a couple of earlier snowfalls and a forecast of more cool temperatures to come were the perfect recipe for a strong early season.

“We’ve got ideal conditions for putting a base down,” he said.

The ski area is tentatively scheduled to open the day after Thanksgiving.

Herald Staff Writer Heather Scofield contributed to this report. daler@durangoherald.com