A nearly week-long snowstorm dumped more than 6 feet of heavy, wet snow in parts of Colorado.
The storm was dissipating Thursday, and colder, drier air was expected to move in.
With 1 to 2 feet of snow falling in the past day, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said the risk of avalanches was high in the San Juans and the mountains around Crested Butte.
The wave of snowstorms, which started Saturday, was fed by moisture from the Pacific Ocean, the same system that caused flooding in California.
The snow resembled the “Sierra cement” seen in the Pacific Northwest more than the fluffy powder more typically seen in Colorado, National Weather Service forecaster Joe Ramey said.
Resort towns at the base of ski mountains got rain and unseasonably warm weather from the system.
The Aspen Times reported that rain and above-freezing temperatures kept an outdoor ice rink from opening. In Ouray, rain and temperatures in the 40s were blamed for melting the ice in the town’s ice-climbing park, the Grand Junction Sentinel said.
Crested Butte’s ski resort reported a total of 5 feet of snow.
The Associated Press
