Colorado has long been known for having four seasons. But public works directors will tell you there really is just two: Winter and “pothole repair.”

Although “pothole repair” doesn’t really begin until March, the two men in charge of potholes around Greeley and Weld County say the extreme temperature changes we’ve seen this year are contributing to an early pothole activity.

“Anytime you get a crack in the pavement – especially in the winter – it can lead to a pothole,” said Joel Hemesath, director of public works for Greeley. “The good thing about the winter, however, is cold keeps things frozen. When you get a storm, and then it melts off, you see the potholes.”

Thousands of motorists across Weld are now weaving in and out of traffic trying to avoid the pitfalls that can cause damage ranging from blown tires and bent rims to out-of-whack alignments and broken axles.

Some communities are very creative with how they locate the creatures. Aurora holds an annual “pothole of the month” contest from October to April. Whomever reports the biggest pothole each month gets a $50 gift certificate. Holes are repaired within 24 hours.

Weld County has a pothole program to make sure the 730 miles of paved roads are smooth running.

“It usually starts in March before winter ends,” said Jay McDonald, director of public works for Weld. “By the end of summer, we are preparing for next winter. We are very aggressive with repairs.”

However, both the city and the county are already at work filling the holes left behind from the holiday storm that took a while to thaw.

McDonald says while his crews are out on other assignments, they are continually looking for potholes that need filled. Over the past year, the county has repaired more than 3,000 small holes that simply need a bit of asphalt; 200 medium-sized holes, where loose asphalt is removed and then filled; and more than 80 larger holes, where a section of the roadway had broken away, and was so damaged, it required them to bring in a small paver and do some more extensive work.

“We really rely on our crews to see them as they are out working and citizens who call in an notify us. It goes into a database, is logged in and then goes to the appropriate work group.”

Greeley is no different. Hemesath said in 2014 (70,088 potholes), the city was up more than 15,000 repairs over 2013 (54,109).

Potholes form when asphalt surfaces crack from the heat and traffic stress. Snow and rain gets into those cracks, mixes with the dirt and gravel underneath and freezes in the cold, expanding the soil. When the water melts and cars drive over the weakened spot, it creates a hole.

If a small hole doesn’t get noticed and fixed quickly, more snow and water gets underneath and the process repeats itself until the holes get bigger and bigger.

“But we can get to them pretty quickly if we know where they are,” McDonald said. “I prefer to do it in the summer, but we have a cold-mix asphalt, and we can go out in the winter. Winter patches, obviously, are not as good as summer patches, but we do as best as we can.”

McDonald and Hemesath said they check every complaint they get and get it patched as quickly as they can.

In fact, fixing a pothole that has been reported is in a municipality’s best interest.

Greeley city attorney Doug Marek said claims against municipalities are common for potholes. When claims are made against the city, the city’s risk management safety officer decides how to proceed from there, Marek said.

However, municipalities are protected in most cases from civil suits that allege someone unfairly suffered loss because of the lack of actions of the municipality.

“Generally they have immunity from liability,” Marek said. “If they had advanced notice of a dangerous situation and failed to take care of it, that might be an exception to the immunity.”

Hemesath and McDonald both said they take all reports from residents serious.

“It is our number one priority,” Hemesath said. “We are very conscientious to make sure we get them filled. Our performance measure is to fill them in 48 hours. We hit that target more than 90 percent of time.”