Graupel on rain crust at Carson Pass

Top 1ft of snowpack was saturated with rain, and surface snow had minimal ski penetration. First new storm snow to fall as snow, not rain, was around 11am and fell as graupel (pic 1). This pooled in low angled areas and in the many rain runnels along the old snow surface, making a layer over an inch thick in places. Storm snow then changed to broken precip particles and clusters.

Pic 2: I'm not sure it will be relevant by 2/15, but we were still getting Sudden Planar results on a density change a few inches under the saturated snow. As temps dropped and snowfall began accumulating, the old surface snow began to freeze into a strong crust.

Damaging winds blowing medium sized branches off trees and moving significant snow once it began to fall. Early stages of wind loading were tested by stomping on small wind rolls, which already displayed signs of instability by early afternoon. By our departure at around 2:30, almost 1ft had already accumulated at the Red Lake parking area.