Strong NE Winds and Small Wind Slabs on Judah

We toured up to Mt. Judah to look for any evidence of new wind slab development from the strong winds over the last couple days.  Dense fog covered Donner Summit this morning with limited visibility.  SW winds from yesterday built out cornices on NW-N-NE-E aspects that were still reactive today to ski kicks.  These new cornices were up to 8-12'' deep along Wildflower Ridge.  None of these cornice drops produced any wind slab avalanches on the slopes below.  NE winds were in the moderate to strong range and transported snow to S-SW-W-NW aspects.  The NE winds were also scouring and eroding N-NE-E aspects and cornices in near and above treeline areas. 

Small wind slabs around 4'' deep were found along the Judah ridge on the west side.  These wind slabs were reactive to hand pits and ski cuts, but were small pockets and did not extend downslope in this terrain.

The fog started to break up with some sun breaks by mid-day.  Strong NE winds continued.