Northern San Juan

Quick report

Krista Beyer · Apr 2, 2026 · Northern San Juan

Weather

19 inches of snow at 1.7 in SWE at Red Mountain Pass. Compared to Coal Bank (where new snow fell mostly on dirt for all but the uppermost elevations) this snow was light. Coal Bank picked up 19 inches of snow and almost twice as much water, 3.1 SWE, likely due to intervals of a rain/sleet mix. Winds were strong across our mountains with Putney weather station clocking a peak gust of 65 mph during the storm and average speeds around 20 mph from the southwest.

Snowpack

Around 15 inches of settled storm snow sits above either dirt, moist snow, or a firm slick old snow surface. In drifted leeward areas that face north and northeast, 2-3 foot drifts sit above a firm pencil hard layer. I found reactivity at density changes within the drifted snow, but did not observe instability at the new/old interface, a change from yesterday suggesting bonding has improved. If instabilities exist at the old snow surface, I would expect them at higher elevations where surfaces were colder at the onset of the storm and new snow arrived colder.

Avalanche

I got some snow to move in drifted features (the sides of gullies and right at ridgeline). Moving snow was only the very surface of the recent snow, a couple of inches thick, but I did get deeper cracking in drifted features. I saw a couple of loose avalanches that failed naturally during the storm.