Gunnison

Overcast skies for the day, with only a few momentary breaks in the sky cover - none longer than a minute or two, and not enough to cook the snow surface. We could see more sun, and likely stronger sun influences down valley.

In the valley floor near Pittsburg, around 6" of storm snow in the morning cooked down to around 3" by the afternoon, fully transitioning to wet snow by the afternoon. Up to about 10,500', the partially transitioned new snow covered a still-wet and unsupportive spring snowpack. Above around 11,500', the crusts buried below the storm snow became fully supportive to boots, and the travel conditions remained dry and very good even into mid-afternoon. Near 12,000 feet, the dense storm snow was around 14" deep, and we found minor drifts up to about 16" deep. Throughout the elevation bands, we found no cracking or collapsing. The only place where the new snow was not well-bonded throughout was below some cliff bands, where graupel pooled midway through the storm snow. Above treeline, even steep, due south-facing snow stayed dry with the cloud cover. Likely, this effect was only along the spine of the Ruby Range.