Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Troy Nordquist Chris Dickson · Apr 21, 2025 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Temperatures ranged from the upper thirties to the low forties with light southwest winds. As the day progressed, clouds began to build and winds increased slightly.

Snowpack

At the location where we collected our snowpit data in the upper bowl, the total height of the snow was 155 cm. The top 75 cm consisted of melt forms with a hand hardness grade of one finger, and there were two dust layers near the surface. At the 75 cm depth, the snow grains transitioned to depth hoar, showing signs of rounding. This specific transition is where we identified a layer of concern, as we experienced a failure during compression tests. Notably, free water has not yet reached this depth.