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A storm blowing through Southwest Colorado on Monday brought some snow, but high winds were the big news, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Grand Junction said.<\/p>\n
The number of trees that snapped in the middle instead of blowing over attest to the power of the wind.<\/p>\n
Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort had to shut down its lifts because of the high winds and downed trees. The tubing hill low on the mountain remained open.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe closed early afternoon,\u201d DMR spokeswoman Kim Oyler said. \u201cWe\u2019re issuing rain checks for half-day passes because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were gusts of wind up to 81 mph, Oyler said.<\/p>\n
High winds and limited visibility above 8,000 feet were the order of the day in the San Juan Mountains. Drivers were warned to be wary of whiteout conditions.<\/p>\n
A gust of 117 mph was recorded at Mount Abram south of Ouray at 1 a.m. Monday,weather service meteorologist Tom Renwick said. Gusts of 110 mph were recorded from 10 p.m. Sunday to 2 a.m. Monday, and winds in the 90 mph range weren\u2019t uncommon at 12,000 feet, he said.<\/p>\n
In the San Juan Mountains, snow was falling as low as 6,500 feet elevation Monday morning, Renwick said. Red Mountain Pass had 10 inches, Molas Pass 6 inches, and there were 5 to 8 inches throughout the southwestern San Juans, Renwick said.<\/p>\n
Red Mountain Pass, closed for avalanche mitigation early Monday, was reopened about 11:15 a.m., said Nancy Shanks, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n
CDOT said in a news release that wind had downed power lines and trees along U.S. Highway 550 in the same vicinity.<\/p>\n
Throughout Monday evening, fender benders were happening around La Plata County because of slick roads, according to Central Dispatch. There were several on Florida Road (County Road 240). A car hit the guardrail near the Bridge to Nowhere along U.S. Highway 160, and there were several in the Hesperus area, but no serious injuries had been reported as of 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
Current road conditions on state highways is available at www.cotrip.org.<\/p>\n
Along the Front Range, so many people tried to take advantage of the fresh powder Monday that they had a hard time getting to the slopes via Interstate 70.<\/p>\n
CDOT said it was taking some drivers about 90 minutes to go about 15 miles from Empire to the Eisenhower Tunnel because of the volume of traffic on I-70 and the closure of U.S. Highway 6 over Loveland Pass because of avalanche danger.<\/p>\n