Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnn Mellick · Jan 13, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Obscured skies, cool temps with strong and gusty WSW winds moving snow at all elevations. S1 snowfall did not add up quickly or maybe it was just blown away...
Snowpack
New snow since 1/9/20: RMP 10.5"/.7", Mon 11.5"/.6". Another inch or so fell today, bringing snow totals to about a foot. Strong and persistent winds have been and continue to move new low-density snow. Today, winds were gusting and changing directions while I was in the field making it hard to tell exactly what might be loading. That being said, most weather stations show dominant wind direction as WSW (Eagle logged a couple hours as NW during time I was out). Settled new snow has been wind abraded and is quite dense and varies from 3"-10"+, but averages 6"-8". Biggest concern in highway paths close to the road (BTL) continues to be new snow failing on the old snow surface. However, I have a growing concern for wind loading in our high alpine paths and the Brooklyns.
Avalanche
No movement in highway paths directly above the highway. Obscured skies did not allow for observations into the alpine.