Northern San Juan
Quick reportKrista Beyer · Mar 25, 2026 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Temperatures started climbing on March 17th and hit the 50s at pass level on March 18th. That's also the day overnight freezing temperatures became weak at pass level. On March 24th (low of 36 degrees) and 25th (low of 34 degrees) there was no freeze at the Red Mountain Pass SNOTEL site. And today was the hottest day yet (63 degrees at the site). See the attached photo for the month history of the site (gaps are due to SNOTEL stations being down).
Snowpack
Completely saturated and trapdoor everywhere I traveled up to 12,000 feet. The amount of bare ground is shocking for this time of the year.
Avalanche
The icing on the cake was a natural D1.5 -D2 wet avalanche observed from 550 on the way home. It ran around noon. I also observed a couple of small loose wet avalanches that had run in previous days.