Skies may be clear of snow that pounded the area in the past week, but now comes the cleanup.
City plows have been operating around the clock this week, dumping snow along the Animas River in Cundiff Park behind the BMX track. The plows will continue hauling loads of snow from the Central Business District starting at 11:45 p.m. Sunday.
If your vehicle is wedged in a snowbank, there’s a weekend deadline to dig it out. The Durango Police Department will begin towing and ticketing vehicles parked in snow-removal areas starting at 2 a.m. Monday.
Durango is predicted to get only a brief respite before harsh weather systems strike again by mid-week.
Grand totals came to an average of 14 inches of snow for the Durango area from Tuesday through Friday, when the storms finally subsided. Grand Junction area National Weather Service forecaster Matthew Aleksa said the totals combine snowfall produced by a series of three systems that, for once, shortchanged the northern San Juan Mountains.
“The low pressure tracked through Arizona and into New Mexico, but never really went into Colorado, so dynamics were mainly focused south on the extreme southwestern-facing slopes,” Aleksa said. “We never saw those strong, up-slope winds that would have enhanced snowfall in the mountains.”
Totals over the four-day period came in at 13 inches for Coal Bank Pass, 8.5 inches at Molas Pass, 7.5 inches at Red Mountain Pass and a mere 1.5 inches near Uncompahgre Gorge just south of Ouray.
The next few days will be cold but clear, with a predicted high of about 26 degrees on Sunday and a low of negative 5 degrees. Lows are pegged below zero for the week until Thursday, when Durango should brace itself for yet another snow system.
“There are discrepancies in the details, but it definitely looks unsettled,” Aleksa said.
jpace@durangoherald.com
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