2/23/22 Wednesday 12:30 pm

― WINTER MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS ALERT ―  
Wed., Feb. 23

Expect closures on several mountain passes 

CO 145 Lizard Head to close at 2 p.m. today 

SOUTH-CENTRAL & SOUTHWEST COLORADO ― CDOT will perform winter maintenance operations on several mountain passes in south-central and southwest Colorado. High country passes have received significant amounts of snow and avalanche mitigation work is required. 

These operations will require lengthy closures. Please be aware that closures may be extended should unusual circumstances arise and depending upon how much snow and debris drops onto the highways. Postpone travel plans if possible. If travel is absolutely necessary, allow for extra travel time and be prepared for adverse road conditions. Visit www.COtrip.org for highway closure information.

Some passes are already closed with no estimated time of re-opening. 

TODAY, Wed., 2/23

• CO 145 Lizard Head Pass – mitigation begins at 2 p.m., expect at least a two-hour closure

• US 550 Mountain Corridor (Red Mountain, Molas, Coal Bank) – all passes currently closed, crews started mitigation at 10 a.m., continuing throughout the day. No estimated time of opening for the three passes. 

TOMORROW, Thurs., 2/24

• US 160 Wolf Creek Pass – mitigation begins at 5:30 a.m., expect a lengthy closure of two hours or more

The following passes will also likely require mitigation tomorrow, but closure times have yet to be determined. 

• US 550 Mountain Corridor (Red Mountain, Molas, Coal Bank passes)

• US 50 Monarch Pass

• CO 145 Lizard Head Pass

Storm Update

I read an interesting discussion by the Flagstaff NWS that was written at 10 am this morning. Based on their analysis, as well as what I am seeing on recent satellite footage, it would appear the WU map is the most correct of the two I posted earlier.

According to the Flagstaff NWS the main area of low pressure is still in Nevada. They expect it to approach the four corners by this evening or tonight. They extended their Winter Storm Warning until 11 pm this evening because the storm is moving so slowly. There are numerous road closures around Flagstaff.

There are some experimental models I use that show future radar and they are indicating that the snow should pick up later this afternoon.  It does appear the snow has increased in intensity from Mancos to Hesperus. We will see.

At this point, we will just have to wait and see what happens. Many of the models that came out this morning did not initialize correctly. By that I mean the conditions they were predicting were already wrong by the time the data was released.

If everything comes together the way the Flagstaff office thinks it will, we could have a snowy late afternoon and night across the forecast area.

I will update this afternoon as needed. Thanks for following and supporting the site!

Click here to donate 

Click here to submit a weather report or question