Snow and rain early Sunday should give way to more moderate weather this week if the forecast from the National Weather Service holds up.
Tom Renwick, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said some lingering precipitation, mostly rain, might remain in Southwest Colorado until midnight Sunday.
Renwick said remainder of the week should be uneventful in terms of weather, with a chance of rain Thursday. He said the next major storm is slated to hit Southwest Colorado will be Sunday, Feb. 26, into Monday, Feb. 27.
“That looks like it’s going to be prolonged and cold, but we’ll have to see how it plans out,” he said. ”It’s a week out, so it may change. But its looks like it’s going to be a pretty good storm.”
A snowstorm Sunday morning caused several power outages throughout Archuleta and La Plata counties.
Around 8:15 a.m., about 250 customers lost power in the Florida Road (County Road 240) and County Road 243 area when equipment was damaged.
According to La Plata Electric Association spokesman Indiana Reed, the fault was isolated, all customers were back in power by 12:22 p.m. Sunday.
“When the snow is wet and heavy like it was, it can cause some problems,” Reed said.
Around 10:30 a.m., some 500 customers in the Shenandoah and Wildcat Canyon area also lost power. Reed said all service was restored by 11 a.m.
Reed said there were a number of small outages Sunday morning in the Vallecito and Forest Lakes area north of Bayfield, but all service was restored by 1:30 p.m.
In the high country, the chance for snow also extended until midnight Sunday, with the forecast predicting 6 to 8 inches.
As of 3 p.m. Sunday, Renwick said about 5 inches fell at the Cascade Creek weather station, and about 4 inches accumulated near Spud Mountain.
Purgatory Resort reported 9 inches of new snow within the past 48 hours as of 3 p.m. Sunday, and Wolf Creek ski area reported 7 inches.
Overnight on Saturday, a chain law had been in effect for Red Mountain, Coal Bank and Molas passes. The Colorado Department of Transportation posted to its Twitter page around 7 a.m. Sunday that no oversized vehicles were permitted across Wolf Creek Pass.
All travel restrictions were lifted by Sunday afternoon.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
