Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Jeff Davis · Mar 4, 2020 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Warm and sunny day. Winds were light at lower elevations, but gusty on exposed slopes in the alpine.

Snowpack

Snow observed blowing off peaks near Silverton in the morning, but loading did not continue through the day. A crust was observed on the surface of many below-treeline and sunny slopes. This crust was created by recent warm temperatures and ample sunshine. Shady and protected slops hold pockets of recently drifted snow that continues to stay dry. A small wind skin was observed in areas, but not widespread. It is kinda amazing how much travel conditions have improved with only a few inches of snow earlier in the week. We did not experience any insatiability's in the recently drifted snow like a few obs recently, but don't know if that is due to time and warm temperatures or keeping to lower angle slopes. We were off the mountain by 1:00 pm and the snow surface was already showing signs of warming. No cracking or collapsing.

Avalanche

No new avalanche activity