Northern San Juan

Another sunny, bluebird sky day with moderate winds that calmed throughout the morning. By midday, the temperature at the car was close to 45 degrees.

Localized cracking in wind-drifts, but no collapsing. Surface wind-stiffened slabs sit over weak snow, but they are not cohesive enough to communicate a collapse. Midpack slabs have completely degraded to fist-hard snow. In most places, the snowpack lacks a slab of the right character for avalanches. In contrast, weak snow is aplenty and we will likely be worrying about this year's "December drought layer" for the rest of the winter (if and when it gets buried).