{"id":36681,"date":"2022-12-20T20:24:20","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T03:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-colorado-can-expect-lower-than-normal-temperatures-this-week\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:32:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:32:55","slug":"southwest-colorado-can-expect-lower-than-normal-temperatures-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-colorado-can-expect-lower-than-normal-temperatures-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Colorado can expect lower than normal temperatures this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chances
Chances for snow start low on Sunday and increase through Tuesday, but not much if any accumulation is expected, according to the National Weather Service office in Grand Junction. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Those in the Durango area looking for a reprieve from the cold may have to wait a bit longer, said meteorologist Lucas Boyer with the National Weather Service, as an arctic air mass from the east makes its way west across the lower part of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been hovering about 10 degrees below normal,\u201d Boyer said.<\/p>\n

Boyer also notes that some areas in Southwest Colorado can expect the temperature to drop into the negative digits.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re getting into those single digits in (high altitude) places like Silverton,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll be bitter cold there. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see this number go a little lower below zero for them with the amount of cold air that\u2019s going to come through.\u201d<\/p>\n

An arctic air mass, which originated over the Arctic region and has been building over eastern Canada, is predicted to head south from the East Coast on Wednesday. According to the NWS, the incoming arctic front is bringing \u201cextreme and prolonged freezing conditions\u201d to the southern part of the country.<\/p>\n

The arctic air mass is also bringing potential snowfall to the Durango area later in the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cChances kind of tick up a little bit on Thursday,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see activity coming through in the San Juans, and in and around Durango. Then things dry out a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyer also thinks the cold air mass could bring more snow on Friday as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get another pseudo active pattern here where we have a couple of waves coming through,\u201d he said. \u201cFriday we\u2019ll see some more activity, and then we\u2019ll dry out a little bit on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The snowfall, however, will not be a significant amount. Southwest Colorado, including the ski areas, is getting less snow than the rest of the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re under this La Ni\u00f1a pattern,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cThe northern mountains have been faring very well, and then the south is just not getting a lot of moisture with these waves (of cold air masses). The snow is staying to the north. It\u2019s just not bringing a lot of snow with it to the San Juans. A couple inches is what I\u2019m seeing on the higher peaks, but as you get down lower, there\u2019s just not much to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even southern cities unaccustomed to wintry conditions will experience the extreme cold the arctic air mass is bringing during a week when many will be traveling for the holidays. According to the NWS, Austin, Houston, Atlanta and even Orlando will potentially be exposed to below-freezing temperatures beginning Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Besides preparing homes for the extreme cold weather by opening cabinets and letting faucets drip during the night to keep pipes from freezing, the NWS also recommends vehicle preparations for those with imminent travel plans this week, which can be found on its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

mass will cause extreme cold across the U.S., could bring snow to Durango area late Wednesday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,88],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-weather-news"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36681","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=36681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83419,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36681\/revisions\/83419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36681"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}