Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jeff Davis · Apr 14, 2019 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Spring day in the San Juan Mountainâ€™s. Winds remained elevated specifically at upper elevations. High clouds developed in the afternoon. Warm temperatures and strong sun.

Snowpack

The top of Red Mountain Pass picked up the most snow out of Saturdays storm. A hasty pit in the Blue Point area had 25 cm's on new snow over a firm Melt-Freeze crust. Only the top 10 cms of the new snow was warm around 11am, but guessing that changed throughout the day. A layer of dust was observed under the new snow and many point releases were sliding on that layer. Dust will accelerate the melting process. Extensive rollerballs and a number of small point releases made it to just outside the white line today, but due to volume had little effect on the highway. In general, the snowpack continues to transition and drain, but due to the sheer volume of snow above the road we are not out of the woods yet.

Avalanche

Multiple small point releases in the new snow triggered by warming.