Persisting surface hoar and less wind than expected on Incline Lake Peak.

We toured Incline Lake Peak and peaks to the NW today looking for wind slabs. Ridgetop winds had not reached forecast speeds in this area before our departure around 1 pm. Wind speeds were in the 10 to 20 mph range rather than the forecast 30 to 70 mph range. Weather stations along the Sierra Crest were reporting ridgetop winds of 35 to 50 mph during this same time period. We could see blowing snow in the Jobs/Freel area during the morning hours. On Incline Lake Peak and on the nearby peaks to the NW, blowing snow was minimal with the well below forecast wind speeds. We encountered a couple of newly formed wind pillows that were reactive and cracked easily when approached by a skier. The wind slabs on these pillows were about 4 to 6 inches thick and were P hard slab over 4F hard older snow.

Of interest, we found surface hoar that was persisting under the light wind conditions. Surface hoar was widespread in this area on open northerly aspects both above and below treeline at all elevations traveled. SH was 3 to 4 mm in size. It was being destroyed in flat areas by solar radiation, but persisting on any northerly aspect steeper than about 10 to 15 degrees slope angle. There is some possibility that this SH will persist upright through burial tonight. If so, this could increase the sensitivity to triggering for some of tomorrow's avalanche problems.

Snow surface conditions were cold and unconsolidated on northerly aspects and wet/crusty on southerly aspects.