Northern San Juan
AvalancheBill Nalli · Mar 30, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Intermittent heavy snowfall sandwiched by breaks in PI that allowed the sun to briefly poke through. It was still snowing hard at 3:30pm. Light NW wind. 3 inches of new snow covered the skin track at the bottom of the drainage after a 4 hour tour. 9 inches of new snow in the last 24hrs.
Snowpack
HST in Corkscrew Gulch was 9 inches. This sits on top of another 4 inches from the days prior. The new snow bonded well to the old surface. There was a slight density break about six inches below the surface that failed with easy taps with a shovel tap test. The sun stayed behind the clouds most of the day but the brief moments that it broke through were enough to thicken the low density storm snow. Most aspects should be soft and free of a surface crust tomorrow morning but as soon as the sun hits things it will get moist immediately. Some west aspects got the sun late in the day and a few small loose wet slides were observed.
Avalanche
Small loose-wet slides on steep slopes when the sun came out after 4pm.