Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis Chris Bilbrey · Apr 30, 2021 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Beautiful warm spring day. Light winds and few clouds. When we could not feel the breeze, the saying was "it's hot".
Snowpack
Today was a warm spring day and the snowpack showed signs of warming driven by ambient air temperatures and strong solar radiation. The snow surface on all slopes was becoming wet by early afternoon. Dry snow that persisted on north-facing slopes from earlier in the week was now wet and heavy. On sunny slopes, it is hard to tell that it snowed at all. Dust has coalesced on the surface is accelerating snowmelt at all elevations. No cracking or collapsing, but obvious signs of Loose Wet avalanche hazard developing and we exited the backcountry by 3pm.
Avalanche
There was a Loose Wet avalanche cycle, likely occurring in the afternoon of April 29. The most significant wet snow activity was on steep, rocky above treeline slopes facing northwest and northeast. Most avalanches were size 1 but a few size 2s.