An Arctic storm is expected to bring below-freezing temperatures for trick-or-treaters to endure on Halloween night in Southwest Colorado.
The National Weather Service expects the storm to bring the “first real taste of winter” to the region and record lows, said Chris Cuoco, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
“It’s not going to be the most pleasant weather for the trick-or-treaters,” he said.
The mass of air from the Arctic was expected to arrive over Durango at midnight Tuesday and might bring a dusting of snow to the San Juan Mountains north of Durango, NWS meteorologist Erin Walter said.
Durango’s high on Wednesday is expected to be in the mid-30s, down from the mid-40s on Tuesday, according to the NWS.
The low is expected to be 8 degrees Wednesday morning and 4 degrees Thursday morning in Durango, Walter said. In Cortez, the low is expected to be 4 degrees Wednesday morning and 3 degrees Thursday morning, she said. The temperatures Wednesday and Thursday in Durango are expected to break records set in 1991, Cuoco said. For Oct. 30, the record low is 10 degrees, and for Oct. 31, the record is 11 degrees in Durango.
Parents and children braving the cold Thursday night in Durango and Cortez can expect temperatures to drop well below freezing.
Temperatures are expected to start rising at the end of the week and into the weekend, Walter said. Sunday’s high should be in the 60s.
The cold temperatures follow a storm that brought a dusting of snow to the region Monday.
The storm brought 2 to 4 inches of snow to the San Juan Mountains, Cuoco said.
The Durango-La Plata County Airport received 0.08 inches of precipitation, he said. The Cortez Municipal Airport received 0.04 inches of precipitation.
“It was a good little snowstorm,” he said.
Those cranking up their heaters for the cold should ensure their carbon monoxide detectors are working, said Scott Sholes, EMS chief for Durango Fire Protection District. Carbon monoxide is a poisonousness, odorless gas that can sit in pockets in a house. It can cause headaches and a flushed complexion, he said.
“It certainly can be killer,” he said.
In extreme cold, the NWS also advises bringing pets inside, checking car batteries and opening cabinet doors to allow more heat to get to uninsulated pipes under a sink or near an outer wall.
mshinn@ durangoherald.com