I spotted a couple of natural avalanches that released during the storm on Thursday. These were on very steep slopes above the creek. I've found that these are good "indicator paths" that often will release naturally giving good information about snow stability. After seeing these avalanches and getting onto the snow on skis, I noted a slight density inversion within the newer snow. It appeared to be lower density powder from Monday with higher density snow from this storm on top of it. I was experiencing localized cracking around my skis also. This all adds up to an unstable new snow situation.