Quick report
In an avalanche course we dug a pit on a NW slope at 8,500'. We found and 80cm deep snowpack with around 15cm of new snow in this location. Below the new snow was a melt-freeze/rain crust with some facets below. The midpack was 4F going to 4F-. The bottom 20cm was F facets, they were somewhat moist, but still weak. In an extended column test we got propagation on the 17th tap (ECTP17 @ 20cm). This seemed representative of the area we traveled in.
Winds were moderate gusting strong, even in the mid elevations. At upper elevations winds were blowing even harder.
There were strong bursts of moisture throughout the morning, stacking up 4-6" of snow, but a lot of that was moved around by the wind. In the mid afternoon we were graced with heavy graupel and thunder around 2:30PM.
I did not notice any avalanches, but there was lots of snow moving around. I wouldn't be surprised if there were natural avalanches in steep northerly terrain.
The wind deteriorated the riding quality in many locations.