A storm blowing through Southwest Colorado on Monday brought some snow, but high winds were the big news, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Grand Junction said.
The number of trees that snapped in the middle instead of blowing over attest to the power of the wind.
Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort had to shut down its lifts because of the high winds and downed trees. The tubing hill low on the mountain remained open.
“We closed early afternoon,” DMR spokeswoman Kim Oyler said. “We’re issuing rain checks for half-day passes because of this.”
There were gusts of wind up to 81 mph, Oyler said.
High winds and limited visibility above 8,000 feet were the order of the day in the San Juan Mountains. Drivers were warned to be wary of whiteout conditions.
A gust of 117 mph was recorded at Mount Abram south of Ouray at 1 a.m. Monday,weather service meteorologist Tom Renwick said. Gusts of 110 mph were recorded from 10 p.m. Sunday to 2 a.m. Monday, and winds in the 90 mph range weren’t uncommon at 12,000 feet, he said.
In the San Juan Mountains, snow was falling as low as 6,500 feet elevation Monday morning, Renwick said. Red Mountain Pass had 10 inches, Molas Pass 6 inches, and there were 5 to 8 inches throughout the southwestern San Juans, Renwick said.
Red Mountain Pass, closed for avalanche mitigation early Monday, was reopened about 11:15 a.m., said Nancy Shanks, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
CDOT said in a news release that wind had downed power lines and trees along U.S. Highway 550 in the same vicinity.
Throughout Monday evening, fender benders were happening around La Plata County because of slick roads, according to Central Dispatch. There were several on Florida Road (County Road 240). A car hit the guardrail near the Bridge to Nowhere along U.S. Highway 160, and there were several in the Hesperus area, but no serious injuries had been reported as of 8 p.m.
Current road conditions on state highways is available at www.cotrip.org.
Along the Front Range, so many people tried to take advantage of the fresh powder Monday that they had a hard time getting to the slopes via Interstate 70.
CDOT said it was taking some drivers about 90 minutes to go about 15 miles from Empire to the Eisenhower Tunnel because of the volume of traffic on I-70 and the closure of U.S. Highway 6 over Loveland Pass because of avalanche danger.
daler@durangoherald.com. The Associated Press and Herald staff writer Ann Butler contributed to this report.