New Snow and Wind on Rubicon Peak

4'' of new snow was deposited in the Rubicon area over the span of a few hours this morning.  Snowfall rates were mostly in the 1''/hour range with periods of more intense snowfall in the late morning hours.  By noon, the snowfall and wind speeds decreased with some clearing throughout the area.  The new storm snow bonded well to the existing snow surfaces coming in warm with cooling temperatures.  Old snow surfaces ranged from soft snow in protected areas, wind scoured and hard slabs near the summit, and a melt freeze crust below 7000'.  Some previous near surface facets exist below this storm snow and above the Dec. 12 rain crust.  Snowpack tests targeting these potential weaknesses did not show any signs that propagation was likely on any of these layers.  Small wind slabs were forming along the upper ridge above 8800' with moderate wind transport during the morning.  These were all small in size, < 6'', and did not show any signs of being reactive at this point.