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A winter chill hits

Storm could hit later this week
Seadar Martinez, of Farmington, daughter of Andrea Martinez, took turns with her brother sledding in Buckley Park and plowing through piles of snow Sunday. Several hillsides in Durango were covered in snow and sledders as winter has made its presence felt in Southwest Colorado.

The snow may let up for the next several days, but kids of all ages were out Sunday to enjoy snow Durango received from the recent storm.

Andrea Martinez, of Farmington, her husband and her two kids, Seadar, 10 and Shrewod, 12, came to get their snow fix, sledding and inner tubing in Durango’s Buckley Park with dozens of others. Although the temperature was about 27 degrees, a bright sun offered a touch of warmth.

“We don’t have any big hills or anything like that, so we came here,” Andrea Martinez said.

“I like going backwards down the hill,” Shrewod said.

Other kids, some with gray hair and mustaches, were zipping down the slopes, using their feet to stop them from sliding out of the park and onto Main Avenue.

Despite a biting chill, hillsides around town were loaded with people taking in the winter day – even well after the sun began its descent. A few early skiers and snowboarders even tested Chapman Hill.

And they weren’t the only skiers hitting the slopes. Ski Hesperus opened Sunday, and it reported a busy afternoon. It plans to switch to night skiing seven days a week Jan. 5.

Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort reported 9 inches of new snow in the last 72 hours; Telluride, 22 inches in the last seven days; and Wolf Creek got nearly 4 feet in the past week alone.

The National Weather Service is calling for chilly temperatures and partly sunny skies early this week in Durango, but Southwest Colorado could see another storm by Thursday.

Meteorologist John Kyle said a system from the Pacific Northwest is expected to move into the area, and it could deliver some more snow to Durango and the San Juan Mountains.

“The next system is now into western Colorado, but it will be pushing into the central mountains overnight. But, it’s not a great storm for your area,” Kyle said.

The single-digit lows Southwestern Colorado residents have been seeing are fairly typical for this time of year, Kyle said.

“We are in the dead of winter, so we’re in our lowest temperatures,” he said. “So yes, it’s cold.”

And as those temperatures drop, residential fireplaces heat up, as nothing says cozy and warm like a log fire. But early season fires require some caution and maintenance.

Bruce Evans, with the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, advises county residents to make sure their chimney flues are clean and wood-burning stoves are working properly and safely.

Fire officials responded to three separate fires in La Plata County on Sunday. Two were tied to a chimney and a stovepipe.

“If one chimney wasn’t full of soot and was properly cleaned, we wouldn’t have been out there this morning,” he said.

For Durango, NWS forecasts partly sunny skies Monday and Tuesday, with highs near 30. It expects mostly cloudy skies Wednesday, with a high near 35 with a 20 percent chance of snow, and mostly cloudy with a chance of snow for New Year’s Day, with a high near 36.

bmathis@durangoherald.com



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