{"id":13902,"date":"2026-01-19T16:56:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snowpack-remains-low-as-cortez-winter-stays-dry\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:41:06","slug":"snowpack-remains-low-as-cortez-winter-stays-dry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snowpack-remains-low-as-cortez-winter-stays-dry\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowpack remains low as Cortez winter stays dry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Below-normal
Below-normal snowfall and precipitation this winter has contributed to dry conditions across the Cortez area, according to local weather data. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Snow water to fill a reservoir is akin to having money in the bank, says local weather spotter Jim Andrus.<\/p>\n

With mountain snow water equivalents at roughly half normal, runoff banked in McPhee Reservoir is also running well below average.<\/p>\n

Andrus says rain and snow are becoming rare resources in Cortez and Montezuma County.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lack of precipitation is making the countryside pretty dry and vulnerable to fire, so residents need to be very careful with fire outdoors,\u201d Andrus said.<\/p>\n

\"Dolores
Dolores River flows along the Dolores River Running Trail on Saturday. Lower river levels allowed the town of Dolores to complete rehabilitation project \u2013 through a Fishing Is Fun grant match \u2013 earlier this month at the river\u2019s beach, near Joe Rowell Park and steps behind the Dolores Public Library. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The veteran National Weather Service observer calls historical data comparisons \u201cexceptional\u201d and \u201calarming,\u201d saying it\u2019s the worst start to any winter season he has witnessed since 1997.<\/p>\n

Potential impacts range from reduced water deliveries in spring and summer to effects on agriculture and a local economy reliant on tourism, impacts some areas are already discussing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The current dry season resembles a recent winter when snowfall totaled just eight inches for the season, Andrus notes. So far, his calculations show 4.6 inches this winter, about 25% of the normal December and January average of roughly 18.7 inches.<\/p>\n

Cortez recorded 0.44 inches of precipitation in December, only 49% of the monthly average of 0.89 inches. The lack of moisture has left vegetation and the landscape extremely dry as snowfall lags.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly three storms in the last two months dumped their precipitation mostly as rain thanks to prolonged warm weather created by persistent warm ridges of high pressure over the Southwest,\u201d Andrus said.<\/p>\n

A warmer December only compounded conditions. According to his monthly report, December\u2019s warmest day was a remarkable 67 degrees Dec. 23, while the coldest night dropped to 10 degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecember indeed was overly warm with 19 daily highs in the 50s and 60s during the middle of the month,\u201d Andrus wrote in the report.<\/p>\n

Cortez typically averages 8 inches of snow for January, the snowiest month of the year.<\/p>\n

\"Boarding
Boarding Haus owner John Agnew talks Friday with out-of-state customers about their vacation to Purgatory Resort. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Looking for a reprieve<\/div>\n

National Weather Service\u2019s seven-day outlook calls for snow possibilities Friday morning and chances for snow or rain through the evening. Some snow is forecast for Saturday, though the daily high is expected to reach 46 degrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the word \u2018slight,\u2019 which doesn\u2019t offer much hope for significant snow or rain,\u201d Andrus said, emphasizing a low chance of meeting the area\u2019s winter snowfall average of 33.4 inches.<\/p>\n

The 30-day weather outlook still calls for above-normal temperatures and near-normal precipitation at best, he said. The outlook for 90 days is even more pessimistic with drier conditions and above-normal temperatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cA strong La Nina climate episode in the Northern Hemisphere continues to manifest its classic climate pattern across the western U.S., maintaining dry weather in the Southwest and redirecting wet weather to the Pacific Northwest,\u201d Andrus said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

shows snowfall and precipitation well below average<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13903,"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-13902","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\/13902","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=13902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19221,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13902\/revisions\/19221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13902"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}