Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Ann Mellick · Apr 30, 2013 · Northern San Juan

View on map

Weather

Mostly sunny with some scattered clouds, very warm, gusty west winds. No overnight freeze (Kendal @ ~13K reached 31 F), second night in a row of warm temps. RMP hit 52 F yesterday, while alpine stations rose to 38-45 F. High temps will likely be similar today. To add insult to injury: we are getting ANOTHER DUST storm today (D9).

Snowpack

Astonishingly fast snow melt continues. It looks very different today than just 2 days ago. Even north faces have a dusty surface and are starting to burn out in thin areas. Snowline is rapidly approaching treeline on sunny slopes, with lower elevations drying out completely. No avalanche activity observed other than some inconsequential R1D1 loose sluffs from steep rocky terrain. Highway hazard has reached NONE along the entire corridor.