Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnn Mellick Jeff Davis · Mar 19, 2018 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Partly cloudy and cool with a north breeze. A few scattered showers with no accumulation.
Snowpack
Sunday's storm snow came in "right side-up" and at just over 5% density. New snow ranged from 6"-18" in depth. It landed on firm crusts on sunny slopes and colder snow left from the previous storm on northerly terrain. Overall, the new snow bonded well with the old snow surfaces. We observed only very minor cracking in isolated areas of wind stiffened snow above treeline- no collapsing. While we did note some wind-sculpting, snow generally had very little wind effect. Strong solar radiation was quickly transforming the snow on sunny slopes despite the cool air temperatures- rapidly settling "hot powder".
Avalanche
Evidence of loose sluffs that likely ran on 3.18 during high PI from very steep terrain.