Northern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Feb 13, 2019 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Cloudy overcast start to the tour. Around 1200, cloud deck lowered and peaks became obscured by 1300 with light snow. Periods of S1 snowfall during the afternoon with a trace of accumulation. We observed moderate southwest winds with strong gusts.
Snowpack
Experienced one isolated collapse on a wind-loaded southeast aspect near treeline with cracking outward approx. 30 feet. Performed an ECT next to where collapse occurred and got a propagating result on 12 taps breaking in near-surface facets above a melt-freeze crust. No other signs of instability observed. Any slope with an east or southeast aspect had a thin, breakable zipper crust on the surface and once the slope faced toward the northeast, thin surface crust was absent. Open slopes at all elevations had some form of wind-effect or stiffening to the surface snow. Minimal drifting observed during our tour after winds had worked over the surface after the February 7th storm ended.