New Snow on Jakes Peak

We went to the West Shore to make observations today.  Trailhead access and road plowing were very limited south of Rubicon Bay with challenging driving and parking conditions.  Cloudy skies this morning transitioned into partly sunny conditions with below freezing air temperatures.  Another 1' of new storm snow from the Monday storm existed at the trailhead.  Recent strong winds from multiple directions had some wind scouring on the summit plateau, but little below.  There was some evidence of previous storm slab avalanches that occurred sometime yesterday during the storm and were partially covered by additional storm snow.  We noticed a density change within the new storm snow that produced shooting cracks and cracking in below and near treeline areas.  While descending, we mostly had loose dry sluffing in steeper terrain with no signs of storm slab instability.  Up to 4mm surface hoar was found in open areas up to the top of Jakes Peak.  Tonight may be another good night for more surface hoar formation.