Northern San Juan

Snowpack

New snow measures between 2 and 5 inches near and above treeline. Brown dust associate with the most recent snow storm will speed up the melting process over the next few days. Localized drifts were small in size but 12 to 18 inches deep on cross loaded ridge lines. Surface hoar 2 to 3 mm was found on west through north aspects above treeline. A melt freeze crust on sunny aspects was below less than an inch of new snow mixed with graupel. Below the crust, recent new snow grains sit on old frozen surface snow. Surface snow began to melt on east through south to west aspects today, but did not penetrate deep into the snowpack. Cool temperatures and light wind kept a rapid warmup from occurring. Due north aspects remain cold and winter-like below the surface above treeline.