Northern San Juan
SnowpackBill Nalli · Mar 28, 2020 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Cold with just enough cloud cover to limit warming from the strong March sun. Brief breaks in the clouds brought much higher temperatures even in the alpine but they were short lived didn't affect the snow surface.
Snowpack
No recent avalanches were observed in the upper Sneffels creek drainage and the new snow was bonded well with the old surface. We found a slight density inversion about 30 centimeters below the surface but this too will settle with a bit more time. New snow in this zone ranged from 2 inches low and to the east and up to 11 inches in the western most portions of the drainage. Wind slabs were abundant but stubborn to non-reactive and the recent strong wind has helped with cornice growth since January. Cloud cover and cold temperatures helped to limit daytime warming and the snow surface stayed dry in most all areas. A few small loose dry avalanches were seen in steep wind drifted terrain that received higher snow totals. Much of the Upper Sneffels Creek drainage has a deep snowpack. A north aspect pit location at 13,000 feet revealed a strong snowpack with an HS of 300cm.