Took a quick look at a lower elevation slope, north facing, 6,200 feet. Snow pack is isothermic, and moist throughout, with the surface wet, soggy snow. Thinking of the rain that is forecast, I would expect mostly wet loose sluffs at the lower elevations. The "mid pack weak layer" was not very reactive, no failure on an ECT.
The upcoming storm will add rain and/or wet snow to the snow pack on the roofs of houses and cabins, a classic recipe for avalanches off roofs.
Photo #2 courtesy of Bruce Engelhard.
A video posted by Utah Avalanche Center (@utavy) on Feb 6, 2017 at 3:13pm PST
The strong winds were confined to just the upper part of the peak, dead calm elsewhere. But definately finding plenty of snow to move....and new cornices were sensitive. Also worth noting, in many places the new cornices are sitting on all the huge old cornices that built up last month. And depending on how you approach an "edge", you may be way out on a huge old cornice, not just dealing with a small new cornice.
