Two of the passes, Red Mountain and Wolf Creek, remained closed overnight Thursday, and two others, Coal Bank and Molas, closed about 7 a.m. Friday for more avalanche-control work, said Lisa Schwantes, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
“It was nasty up there today,” she said Thursday. “The wind was blowing around.”
The Pacific storm, dubbed a Pineapple Express for its origin near the Hawaiian Islands, produced 10-20 inches of snow in the San Juan Mountains and was expected to cough up another foot of snow Thursday night, said Megan Stakehouse, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
The snowline was about 7,000 feet in elevation Thursday, meaning Cortez, at 6,200 feet, was just below the freezing point until about 6:30 p.m., when snow began falling downtown.
A winter storm warning expired at 5 a.m. Friday for areas above 6,500 feet in elevation, including Dolores and Rico.
A winter weather advisory for areas including Cortez and Mancos expired at 2 a.m. Friday. Snowfall tapered off by midnight Thursday, leaving up to 4 inches of snow and making for icy and snowpacked roads Friday morning.
Mostly sunny skies were expected on Friday, with a daytime high of 29 degrees and an overnight low of 4 degrees.
The avalanche warning included the southern San Juan Mountains, Umcompahgre Plateau, La Garita Range, Needle Mountains, Park Range, Elk Head Mountains, Flat Top Mountains, 10 Mile Range, Gore Range, Ruby Range and Dallas Divide.
The avalanche center issued the warning because a large amount of snow became layered on top weak layers in the snowpack. Continued human-triggered avalanches are likely as state transportation crews maintain areas that pose a threat of avalanches.
On Thursday, United Express flights between Denver and Durango were delayed all day as a result of winter-like conditions in Denver, said Tony Vicari, interim director of Durango-La Plata County Airport, where conditions were mostly wet.
American Eagle made a strategic decision to cancel an in-bound flight from Dallas to Durango in anticipation of bad weather in Durango, he said.
“Unfortunately, the airport conditions were just fine,” he said. “There was no reason that needed to be done.”
CDOT crews triggered three avalanches on Wolf Creek Pass, but stopped work Thursday afternoon because conditions grew too dangerous, Schwantes said. As they were leaving, a natural avalanche made its way to the road, carrying debris and burying a 200-foot stretch of road with 6 to 12 feet of snow.
“The conditions were a little too risky for even our crews to continue to work on the pass, so it was determined we needed to get out of there,” she said. “I’m sure we had some disappointed skiers, but I hope they realize we have their safety in mind, and we are grateful that no one was on the pass when that natural avalanche occurred.”
