900 AM PST WED DEC 5 2007 && ZONE AVALANCHE FORECASTS * OLYMPICS- Moderate avalanche danger above about 5000 feet and generally low below Wednesday through Thursday night. * WASHINGTON CASCADES- MT HOOD AREA- Moderate avalanche danger above about 5000 feet and generally low below Wednesday through Thursday night. SNOWPACK ANALYSIS Heavy snowfall accumulated late Saturday through Sunday afternoon over several existing weak layers of surface hoar or faceted snow near the ground formed during the fair and cold weather of late November. The heavy snowfall rapidly changed to rain as freezing levels rose rapidly late Sunday into Monday. Heavy rain continued late Sunday through Monday night with most areas receiving some 2 to 5 inches of water equivalent as rain. This produced a widespread avalanche cycle with the danger being elevated to extreme later Sunday and Monday. Two hikers were buried and died in an avalanche above Snow Lake near Snoqualmie Pass Sunday and another in the party was injured in the avalanche and rescued Tuesday. These recent avalanche conditions have improved dramatically as of Wednesday morning. A result of cooler air moving into the region along with diminished showers and decreasing winds that have allowed for the saturated snowpack to begin refreezing and strengthening. Most areas have a newly forming surface or near surface crust with only a trace to a few inches of new snow above it. At higher elevations some isolated and shallow pockets of wind slab may have formed on some lee slopes, however most areas snowpack should be dominated by the strengthening crust leading to generally stable snow and a low avalanche danger. WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT Continued cooling with occasional light snow showers and decreasing light to moderate winds early Wednesday should allow for refreezing of the old wet snowpack and also develop some possible isolated unstable layers, especially near ridges at higher elevations. Showers ending with decreasing winds late Wednesday should allow for a further slowly decreasing danger. THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT Mostly fair skies and light winds with cool temperatures. This should allow for strong surface crust or near surface crust conditions with only very small amounts of recent snow above the hard surface. In most areas this should limit the avalanche potential maintaining a generally low danger. However, on some lee slopes at higher elevations above 5000 feet in any areas that had received greater recent snowfall following the rain, there may be some isolated wind slab pockets on steeper mainly easterly facing terrain near ridges, but these should be very shallow. &&