A rainstorm on Tuesday closed the intersection of County Road G and U.S. Highway 160 for about 30 minutes and left a muddy wake that had cleanup crews scrambling on Wednesday morning. The weather is expected to clear up on Sunday.
The storm was attributed to a disturbance over Arizona that moved into the area on Tuesday afternoon, carrying strong storms defined by heavy rain and lightning. It dumped 1.48 inches of rain at the Cortez Municipal Airport, according to Cortez weather watcher Jim Andrus, but only .8 inch about 5 miles away at his station on W. Fifth Street.
“Some of these heavy storms can be very localized,” Andrus said on Thursday.
John DeAnda and Thomas Donaldson, of Best Cleaning and Disaster Restoration Services, on Wednesday worked to clean up mud 6-8 inches of mud inside G-Whil Liquors, near County Road G and U.S. 160. Auto Glass Wizard also was flooded.
Andrus has recorded a total of 2.52 inches of rain this month, with is 1.71 percent of the normal 1.48 inches. So far this year, he has recorded 8 inches of precipitation about 103 percent of the normal 7.8 inches.
The National Weather Service forecast for Friday and Saturday in Montezuma County calls for a 30-40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon, decreasing overnight. High temperatures are expected to be in the lower 70s, and lows in the upper 40s.
The weather is expected to clear up on Sunday, with sunny skies, a high temperature in the upper 70s, and overnight low in the upper 40s.
