Southern San Juan
SnowpackMatt Steen · Jan 14, 2013 · Southern San Juan
Weather
COLD day. Rimming precipitation. Snowing off and on all day(S-1 to S1). Wind speeds where moderate with light transporting of newly fallen snow.
Snowpack
Recent strong winds drifted snow onto lee slopes, into gullies and behind terrain features, depositing up to 5 plus feet of snow in wind loaded areas. With the recent strong southerly winds, exposed windward slopes were showing bare ground near exposed ridges near treeline. Over the past few days, light snowfall accumulations have added a few inches per day, adding to this past weeks snowfall amounts of a foot plus. Cold temperatures aided in the riming process. Rimed precipitation particles plaster trees and have stiffened the surface snow. Collapsing was observed on an east facing slope below treeline on an undisturbed slope. A snowpit on a northerly slope near, but below treeline showed multiple weakness. These weak layers were near the surface within the recently deposited snow, and also very easy to hard compression test failures near the bottom of the snowpack above basal facets.