It happens every year somewhere in Colorado: Old Man Winter makes an early cameo, but then he’s off the radar, hiding backstage with nothing for the crowd but shinning sun and melting snow.
And it’s happening right now in Durango.
However, according to weather forecasters, he won’t be missing in action much longer.
“It looks like this pattern should be breaking late this week,” said Julie Malingowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “There is a decent chance that Durango might see some snow.”
Weeks of sunshine and warmer temperatures, she said, stem from a pattern of warmer air in a “northwest flow,” but an Arctic front will move down from Alaska and bring winter back to the Four Corners.
Despite what many think, this is fairly typical.
“This is really the driest time of the year, January and February,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to snow; it just means it’s less likely.”
With a head start on good skiing conditions for the southwestern corner of the state, the melting snow could spell trouble for tourist-based economies, but many local businesses aren’t waving a white flag quite yet.
Noel Henry, store manager for Durango’s newest ski shop, Colorado Free Skier, said the store had a good early season so far. After opening a store in Crested Butte eight years ago, Durango seemed like a natural to expand business.
“I thought we had a really good snow at the beginning, and I know opening week was good,” Henry said. “I’m sure people are just out digging the sun at this point.”
Henry is right. Crowds swarmed Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort during the holidays. Recently recognized along with the city of Durango by National Geographic as one of the top 10 emerging ski towns in North America, skiers flock by the thousands during its busiest days of operation, with most of them generating aprés-ski tax dollars in downtown shops and restaurants.
“We’ve had a great holiday season, and our lodging is sold out,” said Kim Oyler, DMR director of public relations. “The early snowfall we received this year established a great base, and now people are enjoying the snow and blue skies.”
Downtown at Brown’s Sport Shoe, store manager Ron Braselton said the sunny weather keeps runners running and visitors shopping along Main Avenue.
“Right now, it’s tourist season,” Braselton said. “That’s most of our business lately. The good weather is keeping people on the streets, but there is a good amount of outdoor activity going on.”
In Colorado, and especially Durango, locals and visitors know to prepare for anything. On Dec. 29, 1980, it was 58 degrees. In 1988 on the same date, it dropped to minus 10. In relation to the week ahead, the current weather is falling in somewhere around average.
A staff member at Pine Needle Mountaineering, who described himself as “almost at the bottom of the pecking order,” Durango High School student Bryce Jordon said he’s glad just to have any snow at all.
“For me,” he said, “skiing is skiing. I’m not picky about conditions. It’s always fun.”
The weather service is predicting snow to stick in Durango during the weekend, with heavier amounts in the San Juan Mountains.
“Our models are showing snow as early as Saturday morning,” Malingowski said, “It’s still a week out, but it looks good for accumulation.”
bmathis@durangoherald.com
