Increasing Winds and Snow on Bonta Saddle

We staged at Yuba Pass and rode out to Bonta Saddle today to look at snow conditions before the next round of storms approach our region.  Northerly shaded aspects still had areas of soft cold snow present with most southerly aspects having melt freeze crusts.  Lower angle northerly aspects did have thin melt freeze crusts in some areas with steeper terrain and less direct solar radiation having the colder softer snow.  We dug a snowpit in this area and found previous older weak layers that are still visible in the upper snowpack.  A layer of graupel and the Jan 29 buried surface hoar layer were both unreactive to snowpack tests with a CTN and a ECTN.  The snowpack in this area and other locations is in good shape to handle additional snow loading expected this week into next.  Above freezing air temperatures this morning cooled into the early afternoon with increasing clouds and snow (mostly graupel) beginning around 1pm.