Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnn Mellick · Feb 21, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Sunny and mild. Light south breeze
Snowpack
The long stretch of mostly mild and dry weather has settled the snowpack and left a variety of snow surfaces (from crusts of varying thickness to near surface facets). New snow not likely to bond well to these surfaces and will likely easily sluff out of steep terrain. A snowpit above the Ledges showed a structurally weak, but fairly unreactive snowpack. The interface of greatest concern is the crust/facet combo down ~30 cm from the surface (ECTN 22). Failures here could result in slides stepping down to weak underlying facets. However, the main concern with the incoming storm in highway paths remains the new/old snow interface. Most slide action is expected to be limited to new snow.
Avalanche
A few wet loose slides from sunny, steep rocky areas in the alpine. All D1 in size.