Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Josh Coffin · Nov 25, 2015 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Temps at or below freezing all day. BKN sky increasing to OVC in the late afternoon. Winds: BTL Light out of the NW, NTL and ATL Moderate SW with Moderate snow transport onto leeward aspects.

Snowpack

BTL W and NW aspects are approaching a fully faceted snowpack. W aspects hold two decomposing crusts at 5cm above the ground and 15cm above the ground. Each of these crusts were 2-3cm thick separated by 1-2 mm FC and were 1F in Hardness. Average HS on W BTL was 45cm. In addition, a temperature crust was present on the surface on this aspect ranging from 1-3cm thick up to 11200'. NW-N BTL and approaching NTL average HS was 70 cm. Snowpack was nearly fully faceted w/ varying hardnesses throughout ranging from 4F to 1F and topping out at F. Surface of the snow on these aspects was faceted as well. NTL and ATL W-NW holding pockets of discontinuous persistent slab, some of these slabs being characterized as hard, separated by cohesion-less faceted snow. These slabs were present in all catch points; small depressions and gully features most likely from the 20151116 post storm N'ly winds. No signs of instability observed.