{"id":36802,"date":"2022-12-12T20:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T03:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/icy-weather-leads-to-delayed-start-tuesday-for-schools-in-southwest-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:33:40","slug":"icy-weather-leads-to-delayed-start-tuesday-for-schools-in-southwest-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/icy-weather-leads-to-delayed-start-tuesday-for-schools-in-southwest-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Icy weather leads to delayed start Tuesday for schools in Southwest Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Monday\u2019s
Monday\u2019s low-pressure system will bring 2 to 6 inches of snow to Cortez, Durango and Pagosa Springs, and 6 to 10 inches in the surrounding mountain area. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A cold front that moved from Utah and into Southwest Colorado early Monday was expected to dump 2 to 6 inches of snow in the Cortez, Durango and Pagosa Springs regions by the end of the day, according to the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.<\/p>\n

The Durango School District 9-R canceled classes Tuesday, while Montezuma-Cortez, Dolores, Bayfield and Ignacio school districts announced a two-hour delay to the start of classes Tuesday morning as a result of the inclement weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision was made in collaboration with emergency management,\u201d the announcement said.<\/p>\n

A winter weather advisory was in effect until 5 p.m. for Durango, Bayfield, Ignacio, Mancos and Pagosa Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecipitation ahead of that (cold front) has been the driving factor for snow this morning, with temperatures well below freezing and quite a bit of moisture being pulled up by strong winds overhead,\u201d said NWS spokeswoman Erin Walters.<\/p>\n

Durango residents living in the higher mountain areas can expect 6 to 10 inches. Those living south of Durango or in the Cortez area, however, can expect lower snowfall totals.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving south of Durango closer to the airport and then to New Mexico, we start to taper off with 2 to 3 inches,\u201d Walter said about 10 a.m. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty similar to what we\u2019re expecting with Cortez. We just got a report of 1 inch already accumulating in Cortez. We\u2019re expecting maybe another 1 to 2 inches in that area as this front actually passes through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pagosa Springs area is predicted to get 3 to 5 inches, though snowfall will increase significantly toward Wolf Creek Pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe snow will really be ramping up as you head closer to Wolf Creek,\u201d Walter said. \u201cThe Pueblo office is reporting around a foot of snow with locally higher amounts, probably up to 15 inches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The storm is a result of a strong low-pressure system moving in from the West Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt moved in from Northern California in southwestern Oregon coastline, and it\u2019s really just started to drag due east across the northern Great Basin,\u201d Walter said. \u201cBecause this low is so deep, it\u2019s created a really strong pressure gradient (that) creates really strong winds overhead, and so that\u2019s what\u2019s pulling in moisture from the Southwest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The low-pressure system will also be bringing low temperatures to the Durango area this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cCold temperatures are kind of a big highlight with this system,\u201d Walter said. \u201cIt is dragging down a very cold, polar air mass. We\u2019re looking at single digits for lows by tonight (Monday).\u201d<\/p>\n

La Plata County residents can expect the single-digit temperatures to last through the week, though Walter said Durango could warm up to the upper 30s by the weekend.<\/p>\n

She also cautions travelers and commuters to be cautious of high winds and strong bands of snow coming in with the storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a higher terrain, you\u2019re gonna have some of the stronger winds closer to 30 to 35 mph,\u201d he said. \u201cKeep an eye on the forecast and the weather, or just account for the possibility of wintry conditions if you are out and about heading up by (U.S. Highway) 550 or along Highway 160. We are expecting strong bands of snow that could really drop visibility on the roads.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

expected to receive 4 to 6 inches as North Pacific storm moves through<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1164,414],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-snow","tag-weather"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36802","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=36802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83459,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36802\/revisions\/83459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36802"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}