A winter storm brought several inches of snow to Durango on Wednesday, leaving roads wet and slushy before turning icy as evening temperatures dropped.
While the heaviest snowfall tapered off by the evening, another storm system is forecast to arrive Friday and deliver a second round of snow to the region, said Braeden Winters, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
Winters said snow is expected to begin Thursday evening and intensify around midnight, continuing through the day and tapering off late Friday evening.
The new system is following a path similar to the first, bringing moisture from the Pacific via southwesterly flow, which favors Southwest Colorado, especially the San Juan Mountains, Winters said.
“Expect impact at least through the next 36 or so hours,” he said, advising that travel precautions should be the same as those observed during the earlier storm. Temperatures are expected to remain just above freezing.
Durango School District, La Plata County government and the La Plata County Courthouse reported no delays Wednesday morning.
While Wednesday’s storm was one of the strongest of the season so far, its impact on the region’s overall water supply will be limited, even with more snow coming in Friday.
Winters noted that snowpack across the San Juans is at or near record lows, reflecting what has been a “really dry winter” for Southwest Colorado.
“It’ll make a dent, which is good,” he said. “But it’s not going to change the course of the really dry winter that we’ve had. It’s not going to bring us back to normal snowpack depths.”
As of Thursday morning, snow totals included 4 to 12 inches in the northern mountains, 5 to 28 inches in the central mountains, and 12 to 27 inches in the southern mountains, according to Open Snow.
Winters said similar snowfall levels can be expected from Friday’s storm.
In the higher elevations of the San Juans, forecasters expect another 4 to 8 inches of accumulation, and possibly more above mountain passes, Winters said.
Purgatory Resort received a total of 13 inches Wednesday.
Snow observers for the National Weather Service reported their 24-hour snowfall was 6 to 8 inches in the Animas Valley area.
Colorado Avalanche Info Center issued an avalanche warning that lasted until 5 p.m. Thursday.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
