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Stay tuned for more snow

Single-digit temps in forecast
Daniel Bustos, 7, and numerous other kids – and adults – got to charge down a snowy hill Thursday at Buckley Park for the first time this season. Daniel, who is from Albuquerque, was in town with his brother, Dominic Bustos, 12, and parents Kerina and Leon Bustos.

Talk about cutting it close. Mother Nature left it until the very last minute, but Southwest Colorado ultimately enjoyed a white Christmas.

“This is a pretty wet snow, so it’s good for making snowmen and stuff,” said John Kyle, a data acquisition program manager for the Grand Junction office of the National Weather Service. “We’re seeing bands of precipitation coming through, with some of the stronger bands dropping up to 2 inches an hour in the mountains. And we’ve had reports of thunder near Pagosa Springs.”

The weather service extended a winter weather advisory throughout Southwest Colorado mid-morning Thursday after previously limiting it to the higher elevations. It remains in effect until 5 a.m. Friday.

“This will be an open wave of moisture across Colorado through Friday, with some lingering over the mountains,” Kyle said. “You’re mostly dry Saturday and Sunday, and then the next storm comes down from the north on Monday.”

Friday and Saturday are expected to be colder, with Friday’s overnight low dropping to 6 degrees and Saturday’s to 5 degrees.

By Thursday morning, the Colorado Department of Transportation was reporting icy and snowpacked conditions on U.S. Highway 550 from Bondad Hill to Ouray. U.S. Highway 160 had similar conditions from Mancos Hill to the eastern end of Wolf Creek Pass. Those conditions remained as evening fell Thursday, and with more snow expected overnight, Travelers should check road conditions before heading out, the weather service said.

There were reports on the police scanner all day long Thursday of vehicles sliding off roads in La Plata County.

Is this the start of El Niño, which is supposed to bring some major snowfall this winter?

“The equatorial waters are a little above normal temperature, so we’re not to El Niño temperatures yet,” Kyle said. “This is just a typical winter in Colorado, whatever that means.”

abutler@durangoherald.com



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