{"id":13574,"date":"2026-02-10T21:32:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T04:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/warm-wet-storms-expected-to-hit-southwest-colorado-this-week\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:38:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:38:54","slug":"warm-wet-storms-expected-to-hit-southwest-colorado-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/warm-wet-storms-expected-to-hit-southwest-colorado-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Warm, wet storms expected to hit Southwest Colorado this week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Snow
Snow is expected to return to the San Juan Mountains on Christmas Eve. Southwest Colorado has experienced warm and dry conditions heading into winter. That is not unusual; forecasters say there is still time for the snowpack to catch up to healthy levels. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A pair of mild storms with light moisture and warm air are forecast to arrive this week in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

Any moisture \u2013 rain or snow \u2013 will be welcome during this unusually dry winter.<\/p>\n

Kate Abbott, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said a warm storm system will move into the Four Corners from the southwest Wednesday, followed by a slightly colder system Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo unfortunately, especially early on this week as the first punch of the system rolls in Wednesday, it\u2019s looking like it will be rather warm, even up in the mountains,\u201d she said. \u201cSo snowfall will be mostly confined to the nighttime hours when it\u2019s a little bit cooler.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott said snow levels will hover mostly around 9,000 feet in elevation, with rain falling below that. On Friday, temperatures will be slightly colder, with snow favoring more low-lying areas, but still accompanied by above-average daytime temperatures and limited chances for snowfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do see slightly cooler temperatures come Friday, but we\u2019re still well above seasonal normal during the day, so again, we\u2019ll look to that overnight period for some of the better snowfall chances,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look like the Friday system is much to write home about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado is facing one of its driest winters on record, with nearly record-low snowpack statewide. The snowpack is not as bad as in 1990 and 2018, two of the lowest snow years on record, according to Natural Resource Conservation Service data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A
A snowpack graph for the San Juan Mountains shows that the winter of 2025\/26's snowpack is lower than 2002, a historically poor snow year, but still fairing better than in 1990 and 2018. (Courtesy of the National Resource Conservation Service)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Abbott said even a small system with rain will help, because it helps saturate soils.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look at a mixture of snowpack and soil moisture content when we talk about how productive a winter is,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n

The low snowpack has created new hazards for backcountry recreators. On Saturday, a man backcountry skiing in San Juan County struck a piece of wire strung between two trees \u2013 something that normally would have been covered by snow this time of year \u2013 requiring a trip to the hospital, according to a Silverton Mountain Rescue Facebook post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe write to warn our followers and friends on the mountain that debris, posts, wires, and other trash is far more exposed this year than other years. Be safe and keep a keen eye out for things other than rocks and trunks,\u201d the post said. \u201cDanger looks different every year, and low avalanche risk does not equal low risk overall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott said there is still plenty of time for the snowpack to catch up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still do have a decent chunk of winter left here,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not over for us quite yet, but we do need to start adding to that snowpack, even if it\u2019s just a little bit at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

precipitation is welcome in dry winter stretch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1164,994,414],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-snow","tag-trueanthem","tag-weather"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13574","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=13574"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19046,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13574\/revisions\/19046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13574"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}