Northern San Juan
SnowpackKrista Beyer Jeff Davis · Feb 25, 2025 · Northern San Juan
Weather
On February 14th and 15th Red Mountain Pass SNOTEL site, located at 11,200 ft picked up around 25 inches of snow. From the 16th to the 17th the new storm snow had settled about 6 inches. Additional snowfall early in the week added a few inches. From the 18th to mid-day on the 23rd the storm snow had settled an additional 10 inches. During the day on the 23rd we saw our longest duration of temperatures above freezing at pass level since the arrival of new snow on the 14th. Temperatures were above freezing at Red Mountain Pass for 7 hours with a maximum temperature measured at 41 degrees that day.
Snowpack
Recent Valentine's weekend storm snow sits above a bed of weak facets. Wind-drifted snow is a likely culprit for a firmer slab at the interface between the new and old snow. The avalanche appears to have failed in old snow just below this layer. The amount of settlement and/or a firmer layer of wind-drifted snow may have contributed to the connectivity of the overlying slab. Pits were dug two days after the avalanche and conditions may have changed over that period. Regardless, it's a good reminder of spatial variability in the snowpack and suggests the limitations of pit tests. The lack of propagating results, but a concerning snow structure points towards the disconcerting nature of trigger points on a slope and false stability results when viewed in combination with the bounty of recent avalanches reported by observers.