A warm storm that brought a wet mix of snow and rain moved out of the region Friday, allowing for the clearing of highways and driveways before the next round.
And that one is likely to bring a significantly white Christmas.
The colder storm is predicted to move in from Utah on Saturday and bring 10 to 14 inches of snow to the San Juan Mountains, said Matthew Aleksa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Higher elevations could see up to 20 inches of snow.
The Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for much of Southwest Colorado from 6 p.m. Saturday through midnight Sunday. The warning includes the towns of Hesperus, Silverton, Rico, Telluride and Ouray.
The storm will bring strong winds with gusts up to 65 miles an hour that will create low visibility, said Megan Stackhouse, a forecaster with the Weather Service.
U.S. highways 160 and 550, and Colorado Highway 145 are expected to be hit hard, she said. The back-to-back storms could mean additional avalanche mitigation on some highways through the weekend, and motorists should be prepared for delays, the Colorado Department of Transportation said.
One effort is planned for 6:30 a.m. Saturday on Wolf Creek Pass, and traffic in both directions will be stopped. The pass is expected to reopen about 8 a.m., CDOT said.
Snow could start to fall Saturday afternoon in the region, but likely won’t become heavy until the evening.
“The strongest or heaviest snow is expected overnight (Saturday),” Aleksa said.
The storm will bring low visibility and blowing snow over the mountain passes, he said.
The departed storm originated from the coast of the southern Baja California, making it warm and mild.
But it wasn’t without consequences. It left 1,450 customers of La Plata Electric Association without power Friday in and around Pagosa Springs, according to a statement. There also were scattered outages in the Bayfield/Upper Pine area.
By Friday evening, power was restored to most costumers; about 220 customers remained without power at about 6 p.m.
When wet, sticky snow dislodges from the lines, it can make them bounce and interact with each other and trees around them.
At that point, the system will cut power to that area, said Indiana Reed, a spokeswoman for LPEA.
“The guys have to go out and look and make sure that there is not really something wrong,” she said.
Several power outages on Thursday during the storm affected a total of more than 4,000 customers, but all power in those outages was restored by Thursday night.
Chain law restrictions were removed for most mountain passes, including Coal Bank, Molas, Red Mountain, Lizard Head and Wolf Creek, by midday Friday.
The approaching storm is coming from the Pacific Northwest and it is bringing in colder air.
The high on Saturday is expected to be 41 degrees. But the high will drop to 31 degrees on Christmas Day.
The storm is expected to clear out by Monday.
Purgatory Resort was celebrating on social media Friday after receiving a foot of new snow.
Durango-La Plata County Airport received 1.08 inches of precipitation from the storm, Aleksa said. Flight operations were mostly normal Friday, although United Airlines computers that went down Thursday were still down Friday, passengers said. Officials at United and the airport did not return calls about the outage on Friday.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
