Flurries flew Saturday morning and quickly morphed into a steady snowfall that lasted through the afternoon and brought Durango 2 inches of snow as the new year approached.
Law enforcement agencies and the Colorado Department of Transportation reported a quiet morning, but by early afternoon, the police scanner was alive with reports of slick roads and a few slide-offs and vehicle crashes, including a two-vehicle crash on County Road 240.
Colorado State Patrol and other agencies did not return calls Saturday about details of the incidents. “Maintenance patrols are reporting mostly wet, slushy roads throughout the region,” CDOT spokeswoman Lisa Schwantes said Saturday afternoon. “Cortez received a lot of the weather Saturday morning, and of course, it’s moving this way.”
Schwantes reported light accumulation including at higher elevations north of Silverton around Molas and Red Mountain passes. “The roads are warm, but as temperatures drop into the evening, we could see more accumulation, and crews will be ready to work.”
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center does not anticipate any necessary mitigation work for this weekend’s snowfall. City Street Superintendent Mike Somsen said the department dispatched just two trucks to sand city roads, and said accumulation was melting.
Low clouds impacted visibility a bit, but weather conditions did not disrupt traffic in and out of Durango-La Plata County Airport, Operations Manager Tony Vicari said.
Durango received about 2 inches of snow before 2016 came to an end, while as much as 6 inches blanketed the San Juans.
Dennis Phillips, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said Saturday that snow would continue throughout the Durango area as New Year’s Eve revelers welcomed 2017, and take a break in the night before a Sunday storm sweeps through.
“We’re on the northern side of the storm that’s moving just south of the Four Corners and got some good moisture as the system laps around the southern valleys,” Phillips said. “It put down some heavy snow in the west, up to 2 inches per hour.”
Cortez received about 2 inches by Saturday morning.
Snow accumulated on U.S. Highway 160 to Pagosa Springs and on Wolf Creek Pass, which made for slippery driving conditions. Otherwise, webcams showed roads throughout La Plata County were wet but passable. Temperatures on Sunday are expected to climb from just below 30 degrees to the low to mid-30s where they will stay throughout the week, Phillips said, and more moisture is on its way. “The whole week might be pretty active,” he said.
Meanwhile, the snowfall made for a picturesque New Year’s Eve spent outdoors for skiers and snowboarders at Purgatory Resort as well as several dozen tobogganers and sledders who visited Buckley Park throughout the day.
jpace@durangoherald.com
