Wind Slab Avalanches and Fragile Cornices on Lincoln Ridge

We went up to Yuba Pass today to see how our snowpack was reacting to the new snow load.  Rain in Truckee switched to heavy wet snow just below the Yuba Pass Snowpark on the drive up.  Moderate snowfall was consistent through the morning and into the afternoon before decreasing as snow levels started to rise with rain occurring up to at least 7000' in the early afternoon.  Gale force SW winds on the ridgelines were transporting intense amounts of snow onto leeward slopes.  Some of these wind slabs were up to 2-2.5' deep in the most efficient wind loaded areas.  Cornices were touchy and failed easily along the ridge causing wind slab avalanches in steeper terrain.  We dug 2 different test pits to monitor the existing weak layers in our snowpack.  The Dec 11 pwl and Dec 25 NCF's did not show weakness or unstable snowpack test results at these locations.  By early afternoon, up to 7'' of storm snow existed above 7600' with a few inches of rain soaked snow at 7000' and below.