Durango – Six days of snow, cold temperatures and chill winds in the San Juan Mountains didn’t end the 2005-06 drought, but it has quenched some of the region’s thirst.
“These storms put a big dent in the snowpack deficit,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Pringle said Monday. “Areas where snowpack was 25 to 30 percent of average one week ago are now at 50 to 60 percent of average.”
The snowstorms, which began late March 7 and tapered off early Monday, boosted the overall snowpack for the greater San Juan Basin from just under 50 percent to 62 percent of the long-term average, Pringle said.
But some spots in the southwestern San Juans were clobbered. While Telluride recorded just over 3 feet of snow, the Wolf Creek Ski Area reported slightly more than 8 feet of new snow, Pringle said. Durango Mountain Resort received almost 5 feet. The area north of the resort between Red Mountain and Coal Bank passes on U.S. 550 received 5 to 6 feet of snow.
Before this week of storms, San Juan Basin snowfall in 2005-06 had run parallel, and even below, that of the deep drought of 2001-02, a record-setter for the Four Corners region. The snowpack, though still meager, holds roughly 40 percent more moisture than it did for the same period in 2002.
The past few days brought seemingly nonstop shoveling and snowblowing for many area residents, who first registered relief and later fatigue.
“At first I thought: ‘We need the water; isn’t it wonderful,”‘ said Bill Butler, who lives in a subdivision 7 miles west of Durango that received 41 inches of snow. “But by Sunday, my back had had enough.”
Even downtown Durango received more than a foot of snow.
Traffic on Wolf Creek Pass, which closed Saturday night but reopened Sunday, slowed to a crawl over the weekend, said Durangoan Joe Lewandowski, who drove it Saturday afternoon.
“It was epic,” he said. “I haven’t seen snow like that in a long while. It was thick and beautiful.”
Area highways were open by Monday, although travel restrictions (chains or snow tires) were in place on 550 between Coal Bank and Red Mountain passes. And motorists also could expect delays for avalanche-control work through today.
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.
