Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Feb 14, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Warm and sunny with calm winds at pass level. The day started with clear skies, but some high thin clouds moved in by afternoon helping to intensify radiation.
Snowpack
The snowpack in this part of the corridor is getting fairly spring-like. Around 3" of wet snow was on the surface by midday even in relatively shady low angle areas like the Coal Bank study plot. The southerly facing paths, like the Engineers, Henry Brown and East Lime are getting thin, average HS ~24" with some bare patches starting to appear around rocks and trees. The snowpack in these areas was wet on the surface, with moist rounds and rounding facets below that all the way to ground. West Lime was more winter-like. The top 2 feet of the snowpack was 4f- moist rounding facets of various sizes, and a couple of old wind crusts. Foot pen 25 cm. Overall, a very solid snowpack with layering starting to become less pronounced on the southerly aspects. There was some evidence of melting, the ditches were running, and a few icicles were forming on the blower cut.
Avalanche
No new activity observed