Northern San Juan
AvalancheJeff Davis · Feb 16, 2018 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Light southwest winds near and above treeline. Sky was covered with a thin layer of clouds. Temperatures warmed throughout the day especially at lower elevations.
Snowpack
Estimated 6-8 inches on new snow fell in the Ophir area during yesterdays storm. Obvious signs of wind effect was observed in the forms of large cornices, deep drifted pockets, and wind ripples on exposed windward slopes. The snowpack, in general, is finally starting to take shape, as it gains depth. Unfortunately, the structure remains the same. Well, developed depth hore and facets observed on W-NW-N-E facing slopes on the ground. Below 12,000' sunny slopes have a crust buried below this past week storm snow. Snowpack test on W, NW, and E slopes showed weak-layers, but only the west long column test propagated. Collapsing was also observed on west-facing slopes today. So as the snowpack grows so does our avalanche problem.
Avalanche
Mid-Storm sluff avalanches observed in upper waterfall on steep north and east facing slopes above treeline.