Small Slab Avalanche Failing on Buried Surface Hoar

We went into the Silver Peak area today to confirm if the surface hoar that was observed yesterday had become buried under the new storm snow.  Observations yesterday from Silver Peak showed widespread surface hoar development throughout the area.  We observed in multiple areas that the surface hoar has become buried in below treeline and near treeline areas.  We encountered less storm snow than we thought we would, 4 to 5'' of snow existed throughout this area with occasional very light snow flurries throughout the day.  The new storm snow is very low density, unconsolidated snow.  In steeper BTL terrain, loose dry sluffing occurred failing on the buried surface hoar with no slab development seen in these areas.  As we moved to near treeline areas, the storm snow slightly stiffened due to the wind that made for slightly more slab characteristics.  We were able to trigger a small soft wind slab that failed on the buried surface hoar on a test slope just above 8000' on a NE aspect.  We also observed a similar natural avalanche off of the Sierra Crest that looked to be a wind slab that also failed on the buried surface hoar.  Additional load on the buried surface hoar weak layer, areas with deeper wind deposits, or areas that received more storm snow, are all a concern for avalanche activity.