Northern San Juan
SnowpackAnn Mellick · Mar 17, 2011 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Overcast with a few flakes falling from the sky after noon. Balmy down low, but strong southwest winds keeping things cooler near and above treeline.
Snowpack
Soggy out there. While overcast skies kept intense solar radiation from adding heat to the snowpack, the clouds also inhibited heat loss from the snowpack. Most slopes below treeline had frozen surface crusts, but remained very weak and punchy just below the surface. Some southerly slopes had glide cracks and looked saturated- one more day of warmth would put them over the edge. Strong southwest winds near and above treeline kept the upper snowpack cooler up there, while moving any available snow (which wasn't much) and forming shallow windslabs on north and easterly terrain. Looked like there was dust in the blown snow- maybe from strong southwest winds over the desert southwest.