Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Jeff Davis Ann Mellick · Dec 14, 2019 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Snow picked up around noon. 2"-3" of new snow had fallen by 2:30 pm. Northwest wind was cranking. Temperatures in the low teens. Overall, cold snowy day.

Snowpack

Oh, the Wind! Northwest winds continue to move any available snow onto leeward slopes. The wind driven snow is stiffening the snow surface, building slabs, cross-loading terrain features, and even triggered a Large natural avalanche on a southeast facing slope above Ophir Pass Road. The avalanche appeared to run full track and occurred in the old snow. This avalanche could have failed on a crust/facet layer that developed between recent storms. Below-treeline the snowpack is around a meter deep on northwest and east facing slopes. Snowpits on both aspects showed fist hard snow on the surface sitting above a stout 1-finger to pencil hard mid-pack. On both aspects 10-15 cm's of basal facets sit above the ground. The difference observed between east and northwest was the stiffness and size of the facets. On east they are smaller and 4 finger hard. On northwest the facets are more developed and fist hard. Long column tests results showed propagation on northwest on the facet layer, but no results on east. The snowpack is getting deep below-treeline on many aspects, but we are not out the woods yet.... Get it... HA!