{"id":13860,"date":"2026-01-22T12:51:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snow-likely-for-four-corners-as-winter-storm-spreads-across-u-s\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:41:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:41:03","slug":"snow-likely-for-four-corners-as-winter-storm-spreads-across-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snow-likely-for-four-corners-as-winter-storm-spreads-across-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow likely for Four Corners as winter storm spreads across U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Dolores River Basin received much-needed snow from a storm Tuesday. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Four Corners region is expected to see snow and colder temperatures as a sprawling winter storm moves across two-thirds of the country.<\/p>\n

The system is bringing heavy snow to some states and significant ice to others, placing hundreds of millions on alert for freezing rain or sleet. Dangerous cold this weekend could also trigger power outages in several regions.<\/p>\n

The National Weather Service said Thursday the coldest air will affect the Midwest, Great Lakes and southern plains, with wind chills plunging well below zero and possibly below minus 50.<\/p>\n

A winter weather advisory is in effect Friday and Saturday for Western Colorado.<\/p>\n

In Montezuma County, the storm\u2019s local impacts will include a rain-to-snow transition, moderate valley accumulations and heavier mountain snowfall. Forecasters say elevation and timing will be key, with the most significant travel issues expected Saturday morning, especially in higher terrain and along mountain passes in the San Juan Mountains.<\/p>\n

Valley snow expected Friday evening into Saturday<\/div>\n

Forecaster Kris Sanders said forecasters are confident the system will move through the region, though snowfall totals will vary based on elevation, location and temperature.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of places are going to be above freezing tomorrow morning or tomorrow during the day,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cSo, some of the lower elevations could see rain at first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snow is expected to begin in higher elevations of the San Juan Mountains as early as Thursday night. Precipitation should become more widespread and intensify Friday afternoon through Saturday. Lower elevations, including Cortez, may start with rain or a rain-snow mix before changing to snow overnight Friday as temperatures drop.<\/p>\n

Along major travel corridors such as U.S. Highway 160 and U.S. Highway 491, Sanders said snowfall totals are forecast to range from about 1 to 4 inches, with areas like Hesperus and Pagosa Springs possibly receiving 6 inches or more.<\/p>\n

Cortez is expected to receive 1 to 3 inches.<\/p>\n

\"The
The National Weather Service office in Grand Junction shows the probability of snowfall totals across western Colorado and eastern Utah as of Thursday morning. Higher chances of heavier snowfall appear in the San Juan Mountains, while lower elevations, including Cortez, show a smaller likelihood of significant accumulation. Journal file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mountain locations above 8,000 feet could pick up much higher amounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mountains are generally going to see about 6 to 12 inches,\u201d Sanders said, noting that includes much of the San Juan range and areas along Highway 550, Highway 145 and Wolf Creek Pass.<\/p>\n

Roads could become slick, and visibility may be reduced, especially at higher elevations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think travel for Saturday morning is going to be the worst as far as impacts with the snow,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cSo, that 8,000 feet and above could get more like pockets of moderate-to-heavy snow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Temperatures are expected to remain relatively mild during the storm, with highs in the upper 30s to low 40s Friday and Saturday across the Four Corners. Colder air will settle in after the system exits, and clearing skies could allow overnight lows to fall into the single digits Sunday and Monday mornings, especially in areas with fresh snow cover.<\/p>\n

Snow showers may linger in the mountains into Saturday evening. Sanders said conditions should improve Sunday, with dry weather expected by Sunday afternoon across most of the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corners spared worst of ice, but snow and cold still likely<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13861,"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-13860","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\/13860","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=13860"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77092,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13860\/revisions\/77092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13860"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}