Observation: Turnagain

WARM - temp at 36F along road by mid afternoon, around freezing at 1700'
Light north winds in the parking lot in AM, calming by afternoon
Broken skies mid-afternoon, shifting back to overcast/obscured around 2 PM
Light precipitation began at that time, in the form of sleet at the parking lot level

8-12" of new snow, generally upside down from the past 24 hours. The snow quality changed above 1500', becoming less dense.
Moist snow surface below ~1400' by mid afternoon, with the top few inches of new snow moist at the parking lot level.
Widespread wind affect above treeline, with some areas of wind affect well below treeline (see photos below).

We dug in a wind protected spot near the last trees along the uptrack, taking a look at the new/old snow interface and at the variety of crusts that have formed in the past month... including a few crusts that are only found at lower elevations. Except for the new snow that came in 'upside down,' the snowpack above the New Years Crust - now buried ~5' deep at this location! - is right side up, getting progressively harder the deeper you go. Stability tests only got results within and at the new/old snow interface from the past day, with no results above or below any of the buried crusts... including the 1/25 freezing fog crust, which was producing results in similar tests last week. Overall, the snowpack looked good at this location... but given the obvious recent wind transport above treeline, the story could be very different at higher elevations.