{"id":42952,"date":"2022-01-01T00:43:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-01T00:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/subzero-temps-expected-to-kick-off-the-new-year-in-southwest-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:10:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:10:35","slug":"subzero-temps-expected-to-kick-off-the-new-year-in-southwest-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/subzero-temps-expected-to-kick-off-the-new-year-in-southwest-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Subzero temps expected to kick off the new year in Southwest Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A snowstorm, accompanied by high winds, may have knocked fall leaves to the ground sooner than expected in Southwest Colorado. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Southwest Colorado will begin the new year with subzero temperatures, a parting gift after four storms passed through the region in rapid succession, dumping anywhere from 6 inches to more than 3 feet of snow across the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a high-pressure building, which will bring cold temperatures,\u201d said Jeff Colton, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction. \u201cWe\u2019ll see some of the coldest temperatures so far this winter on Sunday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snow is expected through the morning and possibly into the afternoon on New Year\u2019s Day, with the really cold weather starting Saturday night into Sunday morning. The low temperature Sunday morning is expected to be around minus 4 degrees.<\/p>\n

Later into the week, lows are expected to range from around 8 to 17 degrees, with highs during the day in the mid-30s.<\/p>\n

During the past week, from about Dec. 24 into Friday morning, La Plata County weather observers reported 6 inches of snow at the Durango-La Plata County Airport, 8 to 12 inches in Durango, 18 inches a little west of Durango, and anywhere from 9 to 22 inches near Hesperus, depending on elevation. Areas around Bayfield received as much as 2 feet of snow during the past week, Colton said.<\/p>\n

Purgatory Resort reported 44 inches of snow within the past seven days.<\/p>\n

Before the barrage of storms, Colton said snowpack in the San Juan Mountains was around 30% to 40% of average for this time of year. After the storms, the San Juans were at 130% of their average snowpack.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into these storms we were struggling everywhere, but in the last week we\u2019ve seen about a 100% increase throughout most of Colorado,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been good, we\u2019ll take every flake we can get at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the arrival of below-freezing temperatures, the La Plata County Humane Society is reminding residents to bring their pets inside at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the dog doesn\u2019t come inside, the most important thing is to make sure they have shelter, and fresh water,\u201d said Chris Nelson, director of animal services.<\/p>\n

Nelson said pet owners sometimes forget outdoor water sources freeze in the cold weather.<\/p>\n

He offered a tip for residents who look after feral or outdoor cats: Convert an old cooler into a shelter by cutting a hole in the side, large enough for a cat to get through, and put towels in the cooler to insulate it. He also suggested building shelters for pets out of straw.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t afford a dog house you can make one out of straw bales,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can buy six bales of straw and make a nice windproof shelter and a warm place for dogs to lay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Animals staying at the Humane Society shelter in Durango have heated floors to keep them warm, and shelter staff members leave the heat on for them, he said.<\/p>\n

Outdoor enthusiasts looking to recreate in the backcountry should be mindful of avalanche terrain. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has issued an avalanche warning through Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

Avalanche terrain includes slopes that are steeper than about 30 degrees, said avalanche forecaster Mike Cooperstein with the CAIC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recommend people stay completely away from all slopes steeper than 30 degrees, and that means staying out from underneath those slopes, as well,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t go on them, don\u2019t go underneath them. You can trigger avalanches from flat areas below slopes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooperstein said it is a matter of time before snowpacks strengthen and winter wanderers can venture out on steeper terrain.<\/p>\n

Avalanche mitigation work is planned on these mountain passes in Southwest Colorado:<\/p>\n

Wolf Creek Pass beginning at 5:30 a.m. Saturday. Eastbound traffic will be stopped near Treasure Falls, and westbound traffic will be stopped at milepost 168 near the pass summit.Red Mountain Pass beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday. Travelers will encounter traffic stops and lengthy delays between Silverton and Ouray.Lizard Head Pass on Colorado Highway 145 beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. Traffic stops and lengthy delays are expected throughout the morning between Rico and Telluride.<\/div>\n

Forecasters said the next best chance for snow in Southwest Colorado arrives Jan. 8.<\/p>\n

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

A week of storms boosted snowpack to above average in San Juan Mountains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30038,"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-42952","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\/42952","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=42952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85516,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42952\/revisions\/85516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42952"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}