Grand Mesa
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Dec 15, 2015 · Grand Mesa
Weather
The storm has transitioned into a mostly orographically driven event as advertised. Snow has largely stopped on the south side of the Mesa and in the N Fork Valley, and skies are clearing. Currently, precipitation is limited to mountaintops except on the N side of the Mesa, where snow continues down to the town of Mesa. Still looks socked in to the north of I-70. The most intense snowfall was on the N side of the Mesa between Skyway Point and Powderhorn,S2. The wind on the N side of the Mesa is from the NW, on top and on the S side, it is from the SW.
Snowpack
HS 48". 16" on the 24 hour board, with 1.2" of H20. Lot's of wind-effect visible all over the Mesa. Big drifts on and along the road. The Rim area is blowing in as fast as they can clean it. The cliffs look to have been stripped by NW winds, at least down low. Some drifting and slab formation visible in shallow gullys in the Cliffs.
Avalanche
Some small sluffs were visible in the Cliffs and on various steep road cuts, but nothing that reached the road.