Southern San Juan
AvalancheMark Mueller · Jan 7, 2019 · Southern San Juan
Weather
8" of new snow with 0.7" of water content. Storm total 13"/1.45". Steady snowfall in the morning along with very strong SW winds gave way to decreasing snowfall and winds in the early afternoon. Visibility was very poor with low clouds and fog.
Snowpack
No signs of cracking and a few isolated collapses were observed.
Avalanche
Despite the poor visibility fresh natural avalanche activity was observed along the highway corridor. Large (D2) soft slabs were observe in Tombstone and Upper Pass Creek, north aspects below treeline. Numerous small (D1) slabs taking all the recent snow and breaking on the old faceted layer were observed in the S Curves section (Shady Lane).