Northern San Juan

Let's talk about snow: By noon, the Red Mountain Pass Snotel picked up another 5 in of snow at .6 Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) in the last 24 hours. Manual measurements at the pass were slightly higher (7 inches @ .5 SWE). This brings us to around 13 inches at 1 inch SWE since the storm began Monday night. The precipitation intensity really picked up after noon, and at 5pm we're clocking manual measurements around 18 inches since the start of the storm at 1.35 SWE (SNOTEL measurements for the same interval are 15 inches at 1.4 SWE). This is on top of 15.5 inches of snow (1.15 SWE) measured from snowfall on the 11th and 13th. So... in the past 7 days, we've picked up 2.5 inches of water. Let's talk about wind: Putney weather station clocked average wind speeds in the 30s with periods in the 50s and gusts in the 80s in the past 48 hours. Average direction is southwest.

New snow is stacking up above a weak layer of 2-3 mm facets. I was still able to punch through recent snow into the weak layer below on unconsolidated slopes, but with additional snowfall, I expect slab characteristics to continue to develop. During a quick look below the surface, I found instabilities within the recent snow. These instabilities are likely related to the storm interfaces or at density changes within the recent snow. These failed to be reactive outside of the pit in the areas travelled.