Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Ann Mellick · Mar 1, 2013 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

The day began overcast with light (S-1) snowfall, transitioning to mostly clear by noon. Perfect transport-speed winds continued all day above treeline.

Snowpack

It felt like winter in the alpine zone: cold, snowy and windy. Meanwhile, below treeline areas felt spring-like. With moderating temperatures and ever-strengthening sun, the surface snow on slopes that caught any amount of sun formed melt/freeze crusts today. Crusts vary in thickness depending on aspect and elevation. Lots of roller balls, shallow sluffing out of rocks and a few wet-loose slides from steep rocky terrain. Near and above tl areas remained cool with moderate wind loading and surface windslab development. Winds also funneled their way through gully features forming thin windslabs in open areas on a variety of aspects below tl.