{"id":23525,"date":"2025-02-14T06:56:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T13:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/storm-good-news-for-snowpack-but-several-more-like-it-are-needed\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:37:37","slug":"storm-good-news-for-snowpack-but-several-more-like-it-are-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/storm-good-news-for-snowpack-but-several-more-like-it-are-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Storm good news for snowpack, but several more like it are needed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mark
Mark Kade, right, being a good Samaritan, hooks up his Toyota 4Runner to a Subaru belonging to Nick Marlow after he went off of U.S. Highway 550 on Friday north of Hermosa as a winter storm moves through the area dropping more than a foot of snow. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in Durango closed mountain passes, delayed the opening of government offices and led to a snow day being called for Durango School District 9-R.<\/p>\n

The snow began falling Thursday night and piled up quickly across Southwest Colorado. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning through noon Friday, but lighter amounts of snow is expected to fall through Saturday, especially in the San Juan Mountains.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Department of Transportation closed Coal Bank and Molas passes between Durango and Silverton at 8 a.m. Friday, and the passes were expected to remain closed through midday Friday.<\/p>\n

An alert from the San Juan County Office of Emergency Management warned against driving in the Silverton area unless absolutely necessary. Red Mountain Pass is \u201copen but remains hazardous,\u201d according to the alert.<\/p>\n

County Road 210 closed at the 2500 block Friday morning, near the entrance to Lake Nighthorse, as crews moved a tractor-trailer that slid off the road around 5 a.m., according to the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office. The road reopened shortly after 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Purgatory Resort reported 15 inches of overnight snow.<\/p>\n

Avalanche conditions jumped in the southern San Juan Mountains from low risk Thursday to high risk at most elevations Friday and Saturday, as large amounts of snow accumulate atop weak layers formed during a prolonged dry spell. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued an avalanche warning in the mountains surrounding Durango, Silverton, Telluride and Wolf Creek Pass.<\/p>\n

Durango School District canceled all classes and school-related activities as a result of hazardous road conditions, according to an announcement issued shortly after 5 a.m. Friday. It was the first snow day of the school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision was made in collaboration with emergency management,\u201d a spokeswoman said. \u201cThis includes all bus routes, school-related events and activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vehicles
Vehicles follow a Colorado Department of Transportation snowplow on U.S. Highway 550 on Friday near Hermosa as a winter storm moves through the area dropping more than a foot of snow. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

La Plata County government announced it would be on a two-hour delay as a result of snow conditions, meaning government offices opened two hours later than normal.<\/p>\n

La Plata Electric Association reported widespread power outages, which peaked at 16,000 meters Friday morning. Over 9,000 meters were still without power in Archuleta County as of noon Friday, as were nearly 800 meters in La Plata County.<\/p>\n

Durango Business Improvement District held its monthly meeting via Zoom<\/a> instead of in person at TBK Bank. LPEA also moved its special board meeting scheduled for Friday morning to a virtual platform.<\/p>\n

The city of Durango announced that the Recreation Center would close at noon Friday and reopen at noon Saturday.<\/p>\n

The city planned to celebrate Bike to Work Week on Friday with stations set up throughout town where bikers and walkers could pick up free coffee and swag.<\/p>\n

But the stations were canceled, in part because the city\u2019s multimodal staff members \u201chad a difficult time getting in this morning and had to ditch (preferred modes of transportation) for more snow-worthy modes,\u201d according to a news release from Devin King, multimodal manager for the city.<\/p>\n

\"A
A line of cars on U.S. Highway 550 head toward Purgatory Resort on Friday morning. The ski resort reported 15 inches of fresh snow Friday morning. (Courtesy of Meredith Nass)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt is with much sadness, but also elation, that we have decided to cancel this morning\u2019s Winter Bike to Work Day stations,\u201d King said. \u201d\u2026 The City has had a difficult time keeping up with plowing the streets, sidewalks, and trails.\u201d<\/p>\n

Operations at Durango-La Plata County Airport remained largely on track.<\/p>\n

Crews worked to clear snow from the tarmac, and as surface temperatures warmed, the snow was beginning to melt, said Tony Vicari, director of aviation for the airport.<\/p>\n

Three of the four flights scheduled to depart Friday morning made it out. The only cancellation was a 5:30 a.m. flight scheduled for Denver, which was impacted by the airline\u2019s proactive decision to cancel the previous night\u2019s 10:30 p.m. inbound flight from Denver, Vicari said.<\/p>\n

\"Unhoused
Unhoused individuals walk through Durango carrying a sleeping bag and other items Friday as a winter storm drops a foot of snow in town. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He said remaining flights were expected to depart as planned, but passengers should anticipate delays as a result of deicing procedures.<\/p>\n

The city of Durango announced that all Friday trash and recycling pickups will be delayed by one day, with service rescheduled for Saturday. Additionally, the Recycling Center will be closed Friday and will reopen Saturday.<\/p>\n

The storm is good news for the region\u2019s water supply, which has languished in recent weeks. <\/a>The SNOTEL site at Cascade Creek,<\/a> just north of Purgatory Resort, reported 18 inches of snow accumulation since Thursday afternoon, which translated to 1.2 inches of snow-water equivalent. The side near the top of Coal Bank Pass reported 20 inches of snow accumulation and 1.8 inches snow-water equivalent.<\/p>\n

Lemon Reservoir had received 16 inches of snow with 1\u00bd inches of snow-water equivalent as of 6 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

Peter Goble, an assistant state climatologist at the Colorado Climate Center, said the snowpack is lower than it has been since 2018 \u2013 and one storm won\u2019t turn that around.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery storm like this is a storm we\u2019ll take, at this point,\u201d he said, but he noted that the region needs several more storms to catch up to normal snowpack levels.<\/p>\n

Soil moisture in the region is not as dry as recent years, he said. And that\u2019s good news because arid soils suck up snowmelt, reducing runoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still quite a bit of season left,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 It is a little too early to give up hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

shane@durangoherald.com<\/a>; rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a>; jbowman@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Snowplows
Snowplows push snow to the middle of Main Avenue on Friday in downtown Durango after a winter storm dumped a foot of snow in town. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

a foot of snow canceled schools, made for treacherous driving conditions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1086,28,414,88],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-school-district-9-r","tag-headlines","tag-weather","tag-weather-news"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23525","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=23525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78162,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23525\/revisions\/78162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23525"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}