Park County officials today wrapped up four days of rescue missions and emergency deliveries in South Park, hit by more than two weeks of snows and winds.
During the four days, more than 700 miles of roads were opened by snow removal crews from around the state, said Mike Roll, chief of the North-West Fire Protection District that serves South Park.
“There were 68 rescue missions which were deliveries of supplies or emergency contacts. I estimate that we reached 120 houses,” said Roll.
Roll said that from early Thursday until 10 p.m. last night, much of South Park received 10 inches of snow. However, he said the wind was calm and didn’t result in drifting which has been a severe problem recently.
The last two emergency missions were carried out today, which involved delivering feed and hay to horses and cattle. Roll said reports so far indicate minimal loss of livestock due to the storms.
At the height of the emergency operations, officials believed there were 250 homes blocked by snow drifts, some as high as 25 feet.
The rescue missions involved making food and medicine deliveries to the residents stranded in their homes.
Roll said that there remain about 45 miles of roads that need to be plowed. Crews from the Colorado Department of Corrections and Baca and Park counties will complete the plowing over the weekend.
There is a chance of snow in South Park tonight through Sunday.
Snowfall totals released today by the National Weather Service showed that Park County, in which much of South Park is located, was the hardest hit by the snow that fell Valentine’s Day.
Fairplay received 10 inches, Bailey received 7.8 inches and Grant received 7 inches, according to the weather service.
In Denver, Presidents Day weekend will see a return of snow on Saturday night and possibly Sunday, the National Weather Service said this afternoon.
The forecast says there is a 40 percent chance of snow Saturday night, with winds out of the north at 11 to 14 mph.
The high Saturday should be 51 before the snow moves in and the temperature drops to 22 on Saturday night.
The high Sunday is predicted to be 35.
Presidents Day will be sunny with a high of 50 in the Mile High City.
The weather over most of the state will be sunny and pleasant, except for portions of the northern mountains and Front Range, where there is a chance of light snow Saturday night into Sunday morning amid the passage of a weak cold front.
In the Gunnison Basin, where the Colorado Division of Wildlife is feeding a 21,000-head mule-deer herd and pronghorn antelope as a result of snow 60 inches deep and bitterly cold temperatures, the weather is supposed to be sunny through Tuesday.
Temperatures, however, will still be frigid.
The highs Saturday and Sunday in Gunnison will be in the upper 20s with overnight lows around zero.
On Presidents Day, Gunnison will experience a relatively balmy high of 31 degrees.
The extended outlook for Colorado early next week is for sunny weather — a welcome respite from the storms that have hammered Colorado since mid-December.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
