{"id":42097,"date":"2022-02-20T01:38:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T08:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snowstorm-headed-to-southwest-colorado-on-monday\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:05:10","slug":"snowstorm-headed-to-southwest-colorado-on-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/snowstorm-headed-to-southwest-colorado-on-monday\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowstorm headed to Southwest Colorado on Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pictured
Pictured on Dec. 10, La Plata County residents dig out from under a foot or more of snow south of Purgatory resort after a storm moved through the area. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A significant winter storm is expected to snap Southwest Colorado\u2019s unseasonably dry spell with the delivery of cold, wet conditions beginning early next week, according to the National Weather Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The storm offers a \u201cmajor adjustment from what we\u2019ve been experiencing so far in 2022,\u201d the weather service said.<\/p>\n

Sunday afternoon, the weather service issued a winter storm warning through Tuesday afternoon for La Plata and Montezuma counties. A warning is issued when a storm is occurring, imminent or likely.<\/p>\n

Cortez is expected to receive about 6 inches of snow, said Ben Moyer, forecaster with the National Weather Service, on Saturday. Durango is expected to receive 6 to 10 inches.<\/p>\n

Higher elevations in the Southern San Juan Mountains could receive 16 inches of snow.<\/p>\n

The NWS station in Grand Junction predicts the storm will enter Southwest Colorado Monday morning and continue through Wednesday, with a slight chance of snowfall on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Incoming
Incoming winter storm predictions from the National Weather Service.<\/span>National Weather Service Grand Junction<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Moyer cautioned that the forecast could change as the storm approaches.<\/p>\n

The current forecast shows a 20% chance of snow showers after 11 a.m. Monday in Cortez, and a 40% chance in Durango, with that number rising to 50% at night in Cortez and 60% in Durango.<\/p>\n

Snow showers are likely Tuesday and Wednesday, with patchy, blowing snow forecast between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Cortez Wednesday and slight chance for more snow Thursday.<\/p>\n

The weather service issued early caution for potential road impacts.<\/p>\n

By Thursday evening, conditions will be mostly clear, with a low of 2 degrees in Cortez and 4 degrees in Durango.<\/p>\n

\"Incoming
Incoming winter storm predictions from the National Weather Service.<\/span>National Weather Service Grand Junction<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Snowpack for the San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan River Basins is at 87% of its median normal levels, according to Feb.19, according to the SNOTEL report from the Natural Resources Conservation Service Colorado<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Currently, the Southern San Juans face moderate risk of avalanche, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Current ski area reports<\/div>\n
Purgatory Resort reports 2 inches of snow in the past three days. Eight of 12 lifts are open and 101of 105 trails are open. Purgatory reports a 41-inch snow base.<\/div>\n
Hesperus Ski Area reports 4 inches of snow in the past three days and a 20-inch base. All 26 trails are open. <\/div>\n
Telluride Ski Resort reports 5 inches of new snow in the past three days. Telluride reports all 17 lifts and 126 of 148 runs open. <\/div>\n
Wolf Creek Ski Area reports 6 inches of new snow in the past three days. Snow is 89 inches deep at the summit and 80 inches at midway.<\/div>\n
Silverton Mountain reports a 76-inch base, and it received 9 inches of new snow in the past three days. <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Weather Service warns of driving impacts; up to 16 inches of snow expected in mountains <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,167,29,1164,414],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter","tag-snow","tag-weather"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42097","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=42097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85218,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42097\/revisions\/85218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42097"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}