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Storm grazes Cortez, brings frigid temps

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Monday, Oct. 26, 2020 4:46 PM
The Cortez area got some fresh snow, and Sleeping Ute Mountain, a white cap, from the recent storm.
A truck applies sand to the icy road at Mesa Verde National Park Monday morning.
Colorado Highway 145 was closed for one hour Monday morning because of icy conditions and the need to tow vehicles that had crashed or slid off the road.
A winter storm brought light snow and frigid temperatures to Mesa Verde Country Sunday night.

About a half inch of snow fell in the Cortez area from the recent storm.

Mesa Verde National Park saw 1 inch of accumulation, and roads near Yellow Jacket says some minor snow drifts.

County roads are in good shape, and dried out quickly after the light snowfall, said Rob Englehart, Montezuma County road supervisor.

U.S. Highway 160 was icy in spots Monday in Southwest Colorado Monday, and CDOT crews plowed the roadway and put down sand.

The road up to Mesa Verde was icy and slick Monday morning, and trucks plowed and applied sand as well.

Colorado Highway 145 at the Norwood Hill was closed for an hour at 8:10 a.m. Monday because of “extremely icy” conditions, according to the San Miguel Sheriff’s Office.

Multiple disabled vehicles that slid off the road or were involved in collisions required towing services. No injuries were reported.

The storm hit harder north of the Four Corners, said Erin Walter, National Weather Service meteorologist.

“The front came over the San Juans, stalled out and weakened,” she said. “It is drifting out the area, moving to the south and east.”

Telluride received about 8 inches of fresh snow, but snowfall tapered off to the south, Walter said. La Plata County saw a trace to 1.5 inches.

The winter storm warning has been lifted for most of Montezuma County, but it remains in place for Rico, Telluride, Hesperus and Silverton until midnight Monday. There is a winter weather advisory for Durango to Pagosa Springs until 6 p.m. Monday.

Lingering snow showers were expected Monday along the U.S. 160 corridor from Durango to Pagosa Springs before giving way to clear skies.

The cold front brought frigid air in to the area. The Four Corners should expect lows in the single digits to low teens tomorrow morning, Walter said.

It will slowly start to warm up through the week, she said. The high in Cortez is expected to be 53 degrees Wednesday and 60 degrees by Friday. Temperatures on Halloween are expected to reach a daytime high of 59 degrees and an overnight low of 30.

Montezuma County remains in the extreme drought category, the fourth-highest level out of five, according the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Year-to-date precipitation for Cortez is 5.5 inches, or 52% of the normal 10.6 inch average, said Jim Andrus, Cortez weather watcher for the National Weather Service.

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