Windy and Cloudy Before the Next Storm

We went to the Mt. Rose area to look at conditions before the forecasted storm starting this afternoon/evening.  SW winds were increasing with warm temperatures and dense cloud cover in the Tahoe Meadows area.  The temperature on Ophir Peak at 9200' at 11am was +4c with some very light snowflakes occasionally falling from the sky.  Dark clouds over Lake Tahoe were moving towards our area and we thought rain might be possible.  Snow surface conditions were soft unconsolidated snow from 9200' down to around 8500'.  Below 8500', the snow surface became wet but still usable down to our low point near 8000'.  The overnight cloud cover and warm temperatures did not allow this wet surface snow to refreeze and form crusts on these aspects.  Snowpack tests showed no issues in the existing upper snowpack and any future avalanche concerns that start this evening should be with the new storm snow.