Northern San Juan

Obscured skies. Periods of S1 to S2 snow. Temperatures in the teens to low 20s. Winds light, gusting moderate out of the southwest.

A tale of two snowpacks: springy on the sunny slopes, but cold and wintery in the shade. And now, a fresh coating on top. Many slopes had firm crusty surfaces before this recent snowfall. In those places, it's surface avalanche problems we're concerned about. Small sluffs and possibly slabs in the deeper, drifted areas could run fast on slick crusts. But these will likely be small and harmless. Some drifts up to a foot deep were found on leeward slopes below ridgelines, but these were soft and unconsolidated. At the upper end of treeline and near treeline, the springy crusts are less widespread and the new snow landed on small near surface facets. No tests results at the new/old interface. Where the snowpack is cold and dry is where we are still worried about Persistent Slab avalanches, especially where the slab is thinner and softer.