Northern San Juan
SnowpackChris Bilbrey · Nov 21, 2023 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Abundant sunshine and cool temperatures. Moderate winds moved snow along ridgetops in the morning, relaxing to a light breeze by mid-afternoon.
Snowpack
We found around 8 inches of snowfall from last Sunday's storm. The new snow fell onto bare ground on east through south to west-facing slopes at all elevations, and northerly slopes below treeline. On high-northerlies, we found 6 to 8 inches of weak, faceted snow lingering from October storms. These grains were 2 to 4 mm in size. The handful of small avalanches observed all broke at the new/ old interface, and isolated to rocky and heavily drifted parts of slopes. In general, snow cover remains too thin for over-the-snow riding, but is continuous across slopes to support larger avalanches once a cohesive slab forms above. Future avalanche problems here will continue to expand around the compass from shady slopes with additional snowfall, and likely move lower in elevation as snow depths there increase. By mid-afternoon, the snow surface on sunny slopes was consolidating quick, but no crust observed. The danger on southerly-facing slopes is expected to increase slower due to shallower depths and more obstacles poking through.