Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Colin Mitchell · Jan 3, 2019 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Clear and inverted. Rapid warming this morning in the higher terrain. Valleys did not warm until later in the afternoon, and only briefly. Moderate to strong northerly winds in the alpine were mixing down to valley bottoms by afternoon.

Snowpack

Winds were keeping the snowpack cool in the afternoon, but some surface melting was occurring, and crusts will likely form tonight on sunny aspects below about 11K

Avalanche

Lots of small loose snow activity as well as a few small slabs from steep road cuts on a variety of aspects. Some of these spilled into the inside lane. Several larger slabs spotted on west aspects