Northern San Juan
AvalancheChris Bilbrey Amy Pertuz · Nov 12, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
After a chilly start, temperatures rebounded into the upper 20s. A light, but steady westerly wind was observed along ridgetops. Around midday, a thin layer of clouds moved overhead preventing further warmup.
Snowpack
Since our last major storm in early November, the snowpack has become less reactive and talkative. Generally, benign weather and the lack of a big new snow load have helped weak layer sensitivity decrease more than the slab has weakened and softened. Compression Tests took additional force/ taps to produce a failure, and propagating failures in Extended Column Tests were dirty and non-snappy. The weather rollercoaster of warmer days and cool nights keeps surface faceting in full gear and this will be our next weak layer of concern once buried. Additionally, recent strong winds have stripped and buffed many alpine slopes. This is helping limit the number of deeper pockets of snow across slopes where a rider could trigger a larger slide.
Avalanche
None observed.