Windy and Cold on Mt. Judah

I toured in the Mt. Judah area to check out what the recent winds have been doing to the snow surface conditions and to check on the Dec 11 PWL.  From the trailhead, snow surface conditions were mostly firm from wind scouring or from previous skier compaction.  Snow coverage is thin below 7500' with many obstacles showing through the shallow snowpack.  NE winds were strong along the Judah ridge, but with very little to no snow transport observed as the winds have made for firm wind board type conditions on most aspects.  Fall and slide hazards would be a real concern in exposed terrain.  I did see several small D1 wind slab avalanches along the E face of Judah, trigger is unknown and they were at least 1-2 days old.  The Dec 11 pwl showed similar results as in other areas of the forecast region, with no signs of instabilities and no unstable snowpack test results.  Surface hoar was present in areas protected from the NE winds.  It will be interesting to see if more surface hoar development continues tonight as the NE winds decrease with a similar clear cold night.