Southern San Juan
SnowpackMatt Huber · Dec 14, 2021 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Southwest winds were strong enough to blow and drift falling snow. Accumulations were close to an inch during the trip but intensity picked up as I left. Temperatures remained warm, 20-25F.
Snowpack
Near and below treeline, most aspects with the exception of north and northeasterlies were completely bare prior to last weeks storm. Where the storm fell on bare ground, no signs of instability can be found in the 40-75 centimeters of right-side up, 4-finger to 1-finger snowpack. On north-facing and other protected slopes that harbored October snow, that same slab fell but on well developed 3-5 mm depth hoar. The upper 3-5 centimeters of the depth hoar layer is partially crusted with uncohesive depth hoar below. Just below the fragile crust consistently produces easy to moderate propagating results in extended column tests.