Northern San Juan
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Feb 20, 2019 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Cold and clear morning with light winds. Late February sun made it feel warmer than it was. High clouds were already closing in on the 550 corridor.
Snowpack
This weeks storm totals varied along the highway- Monument 3.5"/.25", RMP 8"/.5", Molas 7"/.55", Coal Bank 15"/1.1". The brunt of the storm was focused south of the Lime Creek curve. West Lime only showed an 8" increase on the stake. Plenty of sluffing along steep terrain, especially south of Lime Creek. Nothing made the road, but the surface snow was weak and loose. I looked at the new/old interface in the Coal Bank area, and found a M/F crust at the Engineers, and a wind crust in Lime Creek. Other areas the interface was hard to discern and the new snow had been mostly incorporated into the existing pack (Henry Brown, for example). Virtually all paths have refilled, and little evidence of prior mitigation was visible. Alpine terrain appeared to be wind-affected, and drifts and cross-loading were visible from the highway, even in paths that were a mile or more away. Mitigation at Blue Point and Blue Willow this morning produced minimal results. Loose snow slides to the shoulder with just one small tongue of debris crossing centerline.
Avalanche
Lots of tiny, harmless sluffing from steep terrain on Coal Bank and some in the Gorge. Minimal results from mitigation.