200 PM PST TUE JAN 29 2008 && ZONE AVALANCHE FORECASTS * OLYMPICS-WASHINGTON CASCADES NEAR AND WEST OF THE CREST- ...AVALANCHE WARNING... HIGH avalanche danger below 7000 feet Tuesday. Avalanche danger decreasing Wednesday becoming CONSIDERABLE below 7000 feet. * WASHINGTON CASCADES EAST OF THE CREST- ...AVALANCHE WARNING... HIGH avalanche danger above 3-4000 feet Tuesday and CONSIDERABLE below. Avalanche danger decreasing Wednesday becoming CONSIDERABLE above 3-4000 feet and moderate below. * MT HOOD AREA- ...AVALANCHE WARNING... HIGH avalanche danger below 7000 feet Tuesday. Avalanche danger decreasing Wednesday becoming CONSIDERABLE below 7000 feet. SNOWPACK ANALYSIS Fair cool weather helped form surface crusts and surface hoar frost in many areas in mid January. An initial storm began to cover these layers the past couple days. A general expected upper snow pack structure on Monday on lee slopes might be 1-3 feet or more of recent snow on the crust layers from mid January. A shallower but similar structure should be seen east of the crest. Some weakening or faceting has been reported near the buried mid January crusts the past couple days especially east of the crest. This layering should promote avalanches during heavy snow expected Tuesday. Good snow conditions were also reported from several areas on Monday on the Turns All Year web site. TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT Strong west winds and heavy snow at slightly warmer temperatures is expected on Tuesday. These winds and warmer temperatures should cause new wind slab or soft slab layers on many lee slopes. This should be mainly on steep north to east aspects but is possible on other aspects due to the heavy snow. This should lead to a rapid and significant increase in the avalanche danger especially on lee slopes. The overall cool temperatures may cause this to lower than usual elevations. This should cause an avalanche cycle Tuesday. Previous layers should provide weak layers and sliding surfaces. We do not recommend back country travel in avalanche terrain Tuesday. WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT West winds and snow showers should decrease on Wednesday. This will allow new potential new wind and storm cycle slab layers to begin to partly stabilize. Deep slab layers will remain most likely on steeper lee slopes. This should continue to be steeper north to east aspects but should remain possible on other aspects. We expect triggered avalanches to remain probable especially Wednesday morning. Therefore we recommend that back country travelers stick to safer lower angle terrain on Wednesday and avoid steeper avalanche terrain. Another storm and increasing avalanche danger is expected to begin again Wednesday night. &&