Southern San Juan

Partly cloudy with a north wind at 10-15 miles per hour with intermittent snow showers.

Our snowpack observations were conducted at an elevation of 11,600 feet on a sheltered, northeast-facing slope, with a slope angle of 32 degrees. Snow depth (HS) was 90-120 centimeters, with 12 cm of fresh snow, and a 33 cm variable faceted snowpack extending down to a three-centimeter, pencil-hard ice-crust layer at 45 cm, from our Christmas storm. Below this ice crust is a depth hoar layer from 42 cm to the ground. Two extended column tests were performed, and both at ECT P16 below the ice crust layer at the depth hoar layer. This layer in the snowpack warrants careful consideration on HIGH consequence objectives.