Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis · Feb 8, 2024 · Northern San Juan
Weather
On and off snow showers with periods of S2 snowfall. Around 1" while I was in the field. The snow was coming in sideways, but did not seem very windy. Cold temperatures.
Snowpack
The snowpack is gaining depth and the mid-pack is stiffening. Boot top to knee deep trail breaking. Drifted pockets of snow observed on the road up to ~ 30" deep. Digging on a southeast aspect at 12,000' the height of snow (HS) was just under 180cm. Boot pen was around 40cm and ski pen 25cms. The most recent 2 storms make up the top 70cms of the snowpack and sit above a crust which I am referring to at the 2/2 layer. Above and below the crust there are small facets that did show a weakness in compression tests, but did not propagate. Below the curst layer a stout mid-pack is taking shape and the hand hardness ranges from pencil to 1-finger hard. The bottom 45cms of the snowpack are facets but the January 4th interface is getting buried deeper. The snow was dryer toward to surface and made for some really nice traveling conditions. No cracking or collapsing today.
Avalanche
No avalanche activity observed in the Prospect area. Looks like maybe some cornice failures near the Putney weather station sometime mid-storm, but did not see any debris piles. Only had moments of good visibility.