Southern San Juan
AvalancheChris Bilbrey · Dec 27, 2019 · Southern San Juan
Weather
Oh the wind...strong south winds gusting into the 30's for majority of the day along ridges and at higher elevations. We found 8 inches of new snow at 10,000 feet with 4 inches falling during our tour. Several thunder booms between 1230-1245 with an intense period of S5 snowfall for approx 1 hour. Otherwise, snowfall in the southern half of range was showery and intermittent. Temperatures in the 20's with obscured skies.
Snowpack
Almost two feet of snow has fallen in the southern portion of the range since Christmas. Recent storm snow showed generally good bonding at interfaces. We used several small test slopes steeper than 35 degrees and observed cracking on all of those slopes. None of the cracks propagated outward but was enough evidence to stick to slopes less than 35 degrees. A noticeable crust exist on slopes facing east to south through west below storm snow with a thin layer of facets below. Strong south winds have built deep drifts along ridges and thickened snow surfaces in start zones on leeward slopes. Snow was soft and non-slabby in wind-sheltered terrain. Near-surface facets formed during the pre-Christmas dry spell are starting to round and produced non-propagating results in multiple long-column test. Total snow depths range from 1-1.5 meters around 11,000 feet.
Avalanche
None observed