Durangoans hoping for a white Christmas might be disappointed this year.

Although Silverton remains under a winter weather advisory through Sunday morning, the storm making its way across Arizona and up through Colorado this weekend is not expected to deposit much snow in Durango.

“Moist” and “mild” are the descriptors used by National Weather Service meteorologist Brianna Bealo to describe Durango’s weather leading up to the holiday.

“The tough thing with Durango is that it is a lower elevation and this first push of this storm is very mild,” Bealo said. “Right now, our storm total for Durango is a trace to maybe an inch if you're lucky.”

The storm is moving across the West from the southern coast of California, bringing a heavy load of moisture without the cold conditions necessary for a showering of snowflakes.

Bealo said that snow accumulation will begin to grow about 7,500 feet in elevation.

That means skiers hoping to slash fresh powder at Purgatory Resort will be incrementally luckier – the forecast calls for about an inch of snow there Saturday.

Silverton, meanwhile, has over a 50% chance of receiving more than 8 inches of snow.

“There is a 60 to 80 percent chance for southwest-facing slopes in the San Juans to receive at least 6 inches of snow by daybreak Saturday with that probability increasing to 90 to 100 percent by mid Saturday morning,” the NWS forecast discussion reads.

The incoming storm is expected to pass over Durango by Saturday evening, although another storm coming from the north may send a blast of cold air in Sunday, but not in time to chill out the precipitation and turn it to snow.

The San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan River Basin has received just 60% of its median amount of precipitation for the water year, which started Oct. 1, according to the SNOTEL sites used to collect data for water management purposes.

rschafir@durangoherald.com