Northern San Juan
AvalancheBill Nalli · Oct 28, 2019 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Started walking just as the storm began to break at around 11am. Temps were teens to single digits above treeline with ridgetop wind 10-15mph out of the NNW. Clearing skies and a fresh coating of white made for a very wintery feel. New snow amounts range from 2"- 6" in areas I travelled, with the larger totals mostly on the north section of the range. Strong pre-frontal NW winds averaging in the mid 30's with gusts in the upper 50's died off prior to the start of snow around midnight Sunday. After this the storm seemed to lack the dynamics to push the moisture up and very far into the range.
Snowpack
Prior to this storm snow cover was thin all throughout the range with dry ground on all sunny aspects and just a few centimeters on the shady side. A quick scan tour of areas from Rico to Ridgway on 10/27 showed slightly deeper snow cover on the upper elevation N-E aspects the further North I travelled with the deepest amounts of 5-10cm in Yankee Boy Basin (Pic 1). Snow I observed before this storm was mostly 1-2mm facets but because it was so shallow it seemed inconsequential. After this storm however, I don't think we'll be saying the same. This latest layer seems like it's here to stay, at least on all but the sunniest aspects. By 2pm South facing slopes had already begun to melt back to bare ground. Snow cover is still just too thin for acceptable skiing and much of my descent was with skins still on to keep from picking up too much speed. Next pics are showing general snow cover today 10/28 just after skies cleared.
Avalanche
No avalanches