Northern San Juan

Snowpack

Ann Mellick Susan Hale · Mar 12, 2013 · Northern San Juan

Weather

Generally, it was a mild day, though overall, cooler than we anticipated. For lower elevations, today was a decent warm-up. At pass level it was only slightly warmer. Temps in Silverton reached 42F; passes mid-30's; alpine only 25F. Initially surprised that most of our up-track on E aspect had not gone thru a MF cycle yesterday - but breezy northerly winds (w/stronger gusts)have helped keep snow surfaces cool. Chilly willy on north side in the shade.

Snowpack

Variable. Wind and sun have affected various aspects and elevations quite differently. Recent strong northerly winds cross-loaded east and west aspects, but overall did less damage than expected. New snow has already baked down to ~5" on sunnier slopes and remains ~10"-12" on cool shady northerlies. Surprisingly little wet-loose activity, even on very sunny slopes/rocky areas, due to cool northerly flow over the past couple days.