The Cortez area remains under a winter storm warning after “an extraordinary storm” caught forecasters off-guard and dumped about 10 inches of snow on the Cortez area by Friday morning.

The snow started to fall in Cortez just after 9 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 7. Within the first hour, more than 3 inches accumulated.

“This is an extraordinary storm,” said Cortez weather watcher Jim Andrus. “It even caught the National Weather Service off-guard. They had to update their winter storm advisory to a winter storm warning.”

Andrus said this storm season was the worst since 2010, when he measured a total of 74.8 inches.

Overnight, a total of 9.4 inches of snow was dumped on Cortez. A total of 13.9 inches of snowfall has fallen for the month. “I measured 18 inches of snow this morning,” Andrus said on Friday. Since November, a total of 44 inches of snow has fallen in Cortez, he said.

The city of Cortez said this morning that it was “throwing everything we got” at the storm, according to Dona Thompson, administrative assistant at the Public Works department. Crews hit the streets about midnight Thursday, with reinforcements starting at 2 a.m. Thompson added that it was tough going for its plows on Friday morning, and that one was stuck on South Oak Street about 9:20 a.m.

About 9 a.m., there was a report of an accident between a passenger bus and a car on Highway 145 at mile-marker 31. The car’s air bag reportedly deployed. Rescue crews were on scene by 9:45 and were assessing injuries.

The Montezuma-Cortez, Dolores and Mancos school districts announced that school will be closed Friday, Jan. 8 because of heavy snowfall and adverse driving conditions. Fort Lewis College also closed.

On Thursday, the Dolores School District canceled school and all school activities because of the winter storm. Fort Lewis College closed its campus, and Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio school districts canceled classes for the day. The Montezuma-Cortez school district canceled after-school activities.

A winter storm warning is in effect until 5 p.m. Friday. Snowfall is expected to continue through Friday afternoon, with accumulations of 10 inches in Cortez, Mancos, Dolores, Durango and Pagosa Springs and up to a foot in some areas. A winter storm warning means a significant amount of snow is expected or is occurring. Travel may be hazardous or impossible.

The next storm system is not expected until late next week, and it’s too early to tell where it might track. Joe Ramey with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said it is “behaving like El Niño,” but the amount of snow it might bring depends on how far south it tracks.

“This is the last of this train or series of storms,” he said.

The next storm system is not expected until late next week, and it’s too early to tell where it might track. Ramey said it is “behaving like El Niño also,” but the amount of snow it might bring depends on how far south it tracks.

The snow might stick around for a while because of low temperatures.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for a 20 percent chance of snow on Friday night, with a low temperature of 13 degrees. The forecast for Saturday calls for partly sunny skies, with a high of about 30 and a low of 15. The Sunday forecast calls for sunny skies, a 10 percent chance of snow, a high of 30 and a low of 9.

Round three of the week’s storm arrived Thursday night.

“The next system will be swinging through Thursday night and Friday, and it will be stronger than this one,” said Jim Pringle, a meteorologist at the weather service office in Grand Junction.

“Right now all indications are it should result in greater snowfall accumulation.”

Snowplow drivers with the Colorado Department of Transportation said it was a warmer snow, making it easier to push around and scratch pavement. But that also increases the chances for black ice when the temperatures drop, said Nancy Shanks, spokeswoman with CDOT.

“This storm exceeded expectations,” Shanks said Friday morning. CDOT crews are working round the clock in staggered 8-hour and 12-hour shifts. Lizard Head Pass remains open. In Durango Friday morning slick roads caused a semi to jack knife at Camino Del Rio and Main Street. The road was briefly closed to clear the wreck but has reopened.

“We’re kind of in an unsettled pattern with a few systems moving through,” Aldis Strautins, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said earlier in the week.

“The San Juan Mountains, Southwest Colorado and southeast Utah were the big beneficiaries of this little system,” he said. “Congratulations, if you like snow.”

And if you like sunshine? The weather service forecasts sunny and partly cloudy skies this weekend, with high temperatures of about 32 degrees in Cortez and lows of about 10.

The Durango Herald contributed to this story.

Weather and travel information

The Colorado Department of Transportation reminds motorists to check for updated weather information:

Visit www.cotrip.org for real-time road conditions, highway closures, average speeds, photos, live cameras streaming traffic, trucking information and more.

Call 511 to listen to recorded information about road conditions, projected trip travel times and trucker information.

Receive free email/text alerts at www.codot.gov/travel; choose from a list of subscription options at the “get connected” tab.

Follow @coloradodot on Twitter for traveler information and other news.

Like CDOT at www.facebook.com/coloradodot to receive news and traveler information.

Visit www.codot.gov/travel/winter-driving to get information about road conditions, what to keep in a vehicle during the winter, how to safely pass a snowplow, commercial-vehicle requirements, seasonal closures, snow removal and avalanche control.

Herald Staff

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