The National Weather Service has issue a wind advisory for Sunday, covering all of Southwest Colorado.

Forecasters expect sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph during the afternoon.

The wind advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. until 11 p.m. Sunday.

The wind is being driven by a strong Pacific front that will be sweeping across Utah before rolling into Southwest Colorado, said Dennis Phillips, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.

Moisture associated with the storm is expected to track along the northern part of the state, leaving only isolated or scattered showers in this corner of the state, he said.

It’s possible winds will kick up dust and make skies a little cloudy as the storm whips through Utah; it all depends on the soil moisture in Utah, Phillips said.

The winds are the result of cold air meeting above-average temperatures, he said.

“When you get to spring, you have a much stronger temperature gradient,” Phillips said. “(Saturday and Sunday) are going to be quite warm, and then it’s really cold behind this front.”

As a sign of the changing seasons, Chapman Ski Hill announced Saturday that Sunday will be its last day of the season.

Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 50s Sunday and drop to the lower 40s on Monday. Monday night’s low temperature will be about 15 degrees, Phillips said.

With the exception of the last week in February, temperatures were mostly above average in Southwest Colorado.

Grand Junction reported the fourth warmest February on record. The National Weather Service was unable to make a similar comparison for Durango, saying it hasn’t collected all of the necessary data for the month, and it lacks a full 30 years of historical data from the Durango-La Plata County Airport.

But February was 6.5 degrees above normal at the Durango-La Plata County Airport, according to the National Weather Service.

shane@durangoherald.com