{"id":15422,"date":"2025-12-03T23:03:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T06:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snow-falls-across-montezuma-county-higher-elevations-see-to-6-8-inches\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:48:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:48:03","slug":"snow-falls-across-montezuma-county-higher-elevations-see-to-6-8-inches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snow-falls-across-montezuma-county-higher-elevations-see-to-6-8-inches\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow falls across Montezuma County; higher elevations see to 6-8 inches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Snow
Snow blankets vehicles parked right off Central Avenue in Dolores as the town gets about an inch Wednesday morning. Higher elevations within the San Juan National Forest reported totals from 6 to 8 inches. (Anna Watson \/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Snow and freezing fog settled over Montezuma County on Wednesday, bringing low visibility, slick roads and higher-than-anticipated accumulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say the weather is clear and still. It\u2019s clear up to my ankles and still snowing,\u201d said Jim Andrus, an NWS weather spotter in Cortez. \u201cCortez streets are in fairly good shape \u2013 it\u2019s mainly snowpacked and slushy.\u201d<\/p>\n

National Weather Service meteorologist Braeden Winters said Cortez had 1.5 inches by Wednesday midmorning. A winter weather advisory remains in effect for northeastern Montezuma County until 2 a.m. Thursday, though it could be downgraded early if conditions lighten.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does look like we have probably the most decent snow of the stretch occurring right now,\u201d Winters said Wednesday morning. \u201cWe have some pretty low visibility that we\u2019re reporting in Cortez. But our models are showing by sunset we should see the vast majority of it gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrus reported 0.7 inch at 8 a.m., 1.5 inches at 10 a.m. and 2.9 inches by 2 p.m., with snow continuing to fall.<\/p>\n

\"Snow
Snow coats the Galloping Goose Historical Society\u2019s historic train car in the Dolores foothills Wednesday morning. Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin said the worst driving conditions were along U.S. Highways 491 and 160 and Colorado Highway 145 north of Dolores. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Based on satellite imagery, he said the storm stretched from central Arizona into Southwest Colorado, carrying winds from southwest to northeast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if by evening we might get, at this steady snow rate of about 0.4 inch an hour, whether it might amount to 4 inches,\u201d Andrus said, noting his total already triples the forecast.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, between now and the end of the system, we\u2019re looking at maybe 3 inches on the absolute highs,\u201d Winters said for Montezuma County. Most locations should expect anywhere from a trace to a couple of inches.<\/p>\n

Winters added snow should taper off by sunset: \u201cMaybe some flurries hanging around, but as far as accumulating snowfall goes, by sunset it really looks like it should be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the San Juan Mountains, snowfall was heavier, with nearly 6 inches widespread and some terrain getting 8 inches. Lizard Head Pass was around half a foot, while Rico saw 3-4 inches, Winters said.<\/p>\n

\"Grant
Grant Lindsay takes in views of fresh, trickling snow midmorning Wednesday outside Flower Cottage Inc. near North and Mains streets. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Grant
Grant Lindsay shovels the walkway outside the Flower Cottage on North Market Street midmorning Wednesday. He joked he was \u201cshoveling barely anything\u201d off the sidewalks of his family-owned and -operated business. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Visibility issues, slick roads may contribute to driving hazards<\/div>\n

Visibility issues, slick roads may contribute to driving hazards<\/p>\n

Both Winters and Andrus noted low visibility from fog. Winters said freezing fog at the Cortez airport caused visibility to fluctuate between a half-mile and two miles.<\/p>\n

Roads remained slick. Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin said deputies responded to six crashes Wednesday morning, all without injuries. Nowlin said troublesome stretches include U.S. Highways 491 and 160, and Colorado Highway 145 north of Dolores.<\/p>\n

Andrus urged caution: \u201cThey\u2019re going to have to pay attention to their driving,\u201d he said. \u201cDo everything in slow motions \u2014 start slow, turn slow and drive slow and brake slow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travel was also affected by snowpacked roads near Durango. Colorado Department of Transportation officials urged travelers to drive slowly, check tire tread and review conditions at the COtrip Traveler Information Map<\/a> before heading out.<\/p>\n

\"Fog
Fog and falling snow limit visibility Wednesday near The Italian on Central Avenue in Dolores amid the latest in a series of small storms. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Local snow for now, but more possible in the mountains Friday<\/div>\n

Andrus said the forecast called for just a 20% chance of snow Wednesday evening, with sunshine and moderate temperatures for Thursday and the rest of the week.<\/p>\n

Highs in Cortez should reach the upper 30s to low 40s Thursday, with overnight lows dropping into the teens. Winters said current temperatures are five to 10 degrees below normal, though a gradual warm-up is predicted for the weekend.<\/p>\n

Winters said another system could bring roughly 2 inches to the San Juan Mountains this week, though it is not expected to have the impact predicted for the northern mountains. He noted model projections have trended higher in the 24- to 48-hour period before recent storms.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, up to a couple more inches with that late storm is what we\u2019re currently seeing,\u201d Winters said. \u201cEven if there are no winter highlights, that doesn\u2019t mean there won\u2019t be impacts. There can still be slick roads, especially over mountain passes. Be weather aware at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrus said the recent small storms represent a short-term wet variation in what meteorologists have predicted is a three-month outlook of drier-than-normal conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be individual variations like these weak storms that can fly against that trend,\u201d he said. Despite intermittent snowflakes, the overall drier trend could prove accurate.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s snow marks a second round in less than a week. Cortez received 0.7 inch Nov. 30, the first winter snow, Andrus said, which melted the next day.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh
Fresh snow lines Our Lady of Victory Church and Dolores\u2019 Central Avenue on Wednesday following hours of light but persistent snowfall. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Icicles
Icicles hang from the porch roof of Our Lady of Victory Church in Dolores on Wednesday morning. \u201cI get the impression the storm may deliver light snow all day,\u201d said Jim Andrus, a Cortez weather spotter for the National Weather Service. (Anna Watson\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

small storms this week brings winter flurries to Cortez area<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15423,"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-15422","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\/15422","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=15422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19649,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15422\/revisions\/19649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15422"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}