Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Bill Nalli Sandy East · Dec 10, 2019 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Bluebird and crisp. NW wind was intermittent and blowing snow unevenly.

Snowpack

Snowpack continues to get deeper and strengthen. Average HS is from 80 to 115cm. Upper portion of the pack is 1F dense strong rounds. DH thickness ranges from 10-20cm and is continuing to show signs of rounding and strengthening. I found moist facets at the ground for the third day in a row. Today was on an E aspect at 11,500'. While the facets near the ground are sintering, the snow slightly above that has yet to show similar changes. Propagating failures are still happening in both CT and long column tests. Not ready to let my guard down in steep NW-N-NE-E terrain just yet. Today's NW wind was transporting snow intermittently but not loading slopes enough to create new wind slabs in the areas we travelled. It did however roughen up the snow surface in many exposed locations. See pic 3. I observed RR crust and facets again today on SE aspects at all elevations above 10,000'. See pic 4.