Slightly warmer temperatures are on the horizon, but it looks like the snowfall left over from the New Year’s storm could stick around throughout the week.
“The air is much warmer with the ground bare than it is with snow cover,” said local meteorologist Jim Andrus. “As cold as it is, the snow is going to last a while. Maybe a week.”
He noted that a high-pressure ridge moving into the area will bring lots of sunshine. Average daily highs are expected to creep up to the mid-40s by Thursday, Jan. 8, with night-time lows hovering around 12 to 15 degrees. The day after the storm, on Friday Jan. 2, were the coldest seen this winter at minus 3 degrees.
Cortez Fire Chief Jeff Vandevoorde says that after a busy night on Jan. 1, accident reports began to taper off. The department got about four or five weather-related accident reports that night with one serious crash.
“There was one serious accident where a van rolled over a few times, there was one injury … a possible broken arm,” he said. The other calls the department has fielded have been vehicle slide-offs, with no injuries reported.
Sgt. James Saunders with the Colorado State Patrol said that most of the crashes reported Jan. 1 were the result of excessive speed.
“Drivers were going too fast for the conditions,” said Saunders.
Those who braved slick roads to go skiing this weekend enjoyed an additional five inches of powder on top of the 19 inches that haven fallen on Durango Mountain Resort during the last two weeks. According to a Durango Herald report, the storm’s snowfall has made this opening season for the resort one of the best in recent years.
The heavy snowfall is not only good news for skiers and snowboarders, but good news for area reservoirs, Andrus said.
“Last January was extremely dry, measuring only .08 of precipitation for the whole the month. This Jan. 1, precipitation by 8 a.m. had already exceeded that,” he said.