Strange Weather on Stevens Peak

Climbed Stevens Peak today, looking for the buried weak layer, and hoping for a few good turns as well. Snow totals were surprisingly low in this area, and low tide was the prevailing theme all day.  When we set off at 11:30, temps were ~38F, and the sun was strong. We heard 1 whumpf down low in an area of thin snowpack and vegetation, but other than that, no signs of instability at all, including stomping on test slopes above the forest service road. We dug a hasty pit around 8500 ft., and did find the faceted layer about 10-12" down under the storm snow. Up higher, we found obvious wind affect, and a thin, P-hard wind skin in most places (1-2" thick). In the east cirque below the peak, another hasty pit showed no faceted layer at all, just 30 cm of new snow sitting on top of 25 cm of rock solid ice on the ground (HS: 55cm total). At this point, a surprise cloud seemed to pop out of nowhere and envelop the whole peak, and we even had periods of S-1 snowfall. Below, 8500', this was rain, and the snow surface was quickly becoming saturated, with rollerballs coming off rocks and our ski turns. The skiing was very good for the first 1500' off the summit, but below that, the rain, and the warm temps and sunshine of the morning had turned the snow surface into the most miserable glop of all time. It was still damp and warm (almost 40F) at the car when we got back, and the peak was entirely obscured.