Wind Slabs on Silver Peak

We went to Silver Peak to see what the recent winds have been doing to the snow surface conditions in this area.  Recent strong to gale force SW winds have scoured all but the most wind protected areas leaving raised tracks, wind texture, and firm wind board.  Blowing snow was observed off of the ridgelines from the moderate to strong SW winds today, but does seem to be diminishing as the available snow for wind transport gets more limited.  The wind textured snow extends far downslope off of ridgelines in open areas with hard wind slab characteristics.  These wind slabs would fail with ECT's with a Pencil hard wind slab on top of softer 4F snow at about 1 foot deep.  Surface hoar was limited in this area above 7000' and we did not see any evidence of any previous surface hoar being buried by recent wind loading.  Mountain inversions provided mild conditions above 7000' with colder temps at lower elevations in the morning.  The snow surface is transitioning on many aspects from exposure to the sun, wind, and warmer temps with tree drippings and sun crusts developing.