{"id":13416,"date":"2026-02-20T12:10:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-biggest-snowstorm-of-the-season-hits-southwest-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:36:27","slug":"update-biggest-snowstorm-of-the-season-hits-southwest-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-biggest-snowstorm-of-the-season-hits-southwest-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: Biggest snowstorm of the season hits Southwest Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Snowplows
Snowplows clear streets in downtown Cortez on Friday as another wave of snow brought 5.1 inches of accumulation to the area overnight. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Cortez residents awoke Friday to about 5 inches of new snow on the ground, with the heaviest precipitation mostly over. Storm systems this week closed schools and businesses Thursday and Friday across Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce these clouds and storms move out this morning, that\u2019s kind of the bulk of precipitation Cortez and surrounding areas will see today,\u201d said National Weather Service meteorologist Braeden Winters.<\/p>\n

Jim Andrus, a National Weather Service observer, reported that 5.1 inches of snow fell between 11 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday. He called the snowfall \u201cimpressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got 5 inches in nine hours,\u201d Andrus said.<\/p>\n

\n

Friday\u2019s closures and cancellationsSan Juan National Forest visitor deskClosed for the dayMontezuma-Cortez School DistrictCanceled class for all schoolsMancos Public LibraryClosed for the dayDolores Public LibraryClosed for the dayUte Mountain Ute tribal officesClosed for the day<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Snow depths at ski resorts near CortezResortBase depthPast 72 hoursPurgatory Resort47 inches30 inchesTelluride Ski Resort49 inches17 inchesWolf Creek Ski Area84 inches (midway)44 inchesCrested Butte Mountain Resort53 inches24 inchesSilverton Mountain Ski Area50 inches24 inches<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Colorado Department of Transportation closed Wolf Creek Pass between Pagosa Springs and South Fork. Six plows worked to clear U.S. 160 between Durango and Cortez Friday morning as patchy blowing snow and slick roads affected the area.<\/p>\n

A winter weather advisory from the National Weather Service remains in effect for the Southwest San Juan Mountains, the Uncompahgre Plateau and the Dallas Divide until 11 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

With heavy snow and intense winds, the avalanche risk in the San Juan Mountains was \u201chigh\u201d Friday and was expected to drop to \u201cconsiderable\u201d Saturday. The risk, assessed on a scale of one to five, was at 4 from 6 a.m. Wednesday through 5 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center called the storm the \u201cbiggest\u201d of the season and reported that several feet of snow accumulated on top of weak snowpack.<\/p>\n\n

Warmer weather ahead<\/div>\n

Winters projected a few more hours of precipitation Friday morning, noting the potential for isolated snow showers around Cortez and nearby areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have what I would call a different episode taking place now featuring more chances of precipitation,\u201d said local weather spotter Jim Andrus. \u201cWhich comes to a pause this weekend with warmer, drier weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a low chance of moderate showers Friday evening. Dolores and Mancos have a similar outlook, with precipitation mainly affecting higher elevations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strongest snowfall should have come to an end,\u201d Winters said.<\/p>\n

\n

Wednesday\u2019s closures and cancellations due to weatherMontezuma-Cortez School DistrictEarly release of all students by 3:10 p.m. Dolores School DistrictCanceled all after-school activities and practices. Mancos School DistrictEarly release of all students at 3:30 p.m., canceled all after-school activities and practices. Dolores Public LibraryClosing early at 3:30 p.m., canceled Brain Builders and Yoga. Mancos Public LibraryClosing early at 4:30 p.m. Mancos Town HallCanceled Planning and Zoning meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Over the next six days, temperatures are expected to rise, reaching a high of 53 degrees on Monday. Andrus said the moisture from melting snow is much needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least that will give the snow a chance to melt and soak into the ground,\u201d Andrus said.<\/p>\n

But he added that this winter storm will need to be followed by others to make up for the dry season that brings fire and drought risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just one event. We need a lot more events like this one,\u201d Andrus said.<\/p>\n

After the warm spell, Andrus said another storm system may pass over Southwest Colorado near the end of next week. He cautioned that it\u2019s too soon for predictions.<\/p>\n

\"Snow
Snow plows clear U.S. Highway 160 east of Cortez Wednesday afternoon. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Colorado
Colorado Department of Transportation cameras capture snow on Colorado Highway 145 through Rico at 1 p.m. Thursday. (Colorado Department of Transportation)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Earlier this week<\/div>\n

National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Renwick estimated 2 to 4 inches of snow accumulated in Cortez on Wednesday. According to resident reports to the NWS, Mancos and Dolores recorded 3 and 2.6 inches, respectively, from Wednesday into Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Whiteout conditions, ice and snowpack affected U.S. 160 between Cortez and Durango on Wednesday. With 7 inches of snowfall reported near Rico, the Colorado Department of Transportation warned drivers of weather hazards on Colorado 145 north from Cortez.<\/p>\n

At 3:31 p.m. Wednesday, the Montezuma County Sheriff\u2019s Office wrote on Facebook<\/a> that road conditions were rapidly deteriorating. In the post, the office said it had received multiple reports of crashes and slide-offs across the county and encouraged residents to stay home if possible.<\/p>\n

Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin said he knew of two crashes on U.S. 491 and one in Dolores that his office responded to on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what happens when it snows,\u201d Nowlin said, commenting that the roads remained slick Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

and high winds heighten avalanche risk; schools close<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13416"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20660,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13416\/revisions\/20660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13416"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}