Northern San Juan
SnowpackSusan Hale · Nov 23, 2013 · Northern San Juan
Weather
The HN24 is from the morning's readings at the CAIC Red Mtn Pass study plot. Light snow falling, relatively warm, generally breezy conditions - more wind than we've seen since the onset of this storm. Late morning, southerly winds picked up to "gusty" - even moving snow around near and above treeline.
Snowpack
Southerly aspects below treeline were just new snow up to 12 inches deep (these aspects were mostly burned out prior to this storm). Easterly aspects below treeline were more variable with pockets of new between 18" to 24" deep, resting on a moist melt-freeze crust. Near treeline on these easterly aspects we found surprising cornice growth, more slab development and a general "fattening" of terrain features - especially considering the light winds we've experienced with most of this storm. We also experienced occasional moderate whumpfing on E-NE aspects as we toured up, but no shooting cracks. Northerly aspects below treeline had up to 36" in favored areas, resting on moist facets and even moist depth hoar below. Steep features on these north aspects still broke out in pockets or cracked with ski cuts. We observed a fresh slab avalanche on a steep NNE aspect, originating above treeline.