A storm is descending on Durango.
“I’m expecting rain to start in the late morning toward the early afternoon (today),” said Julie Malingowski, with the National Weather Service’s Grand Junction office. “There’s a chance of isolated thunderstorms as well (today), but we’re expecting most of the precipitation to fall as rain without thunder.”
Showers will intensify over the course of this afternoon.
“Then the fun part happens,” she said.
Tonight, a cold front is expected to pass through Durango, starting around 10 p.m. and continuing through Sunday morning.
“We’re expecting 1 to 2 inches of snow,” she said, with 5 to 6 falling on the foothills closer to the mountains by the end of the storm Sunday.
The frigid temperatures come courtesy of a “big storm coming in from the Pacific that originated off the coast of California. It will be an unseasonably cold storm. Normally, we’d have rain this time of year. But it’s not unprecedented to receive snow in late April,” she said.
She said the below-normal temperatures would likely persist until midweek.
Though the storm may frustrate Durangoans who had planned to spend time outdoors this weekend, Malingowski said Durango is still suffering from an acute drought.
“Every little bit helps. At least this will put some more moisture on the ground,” she said.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
