900 AM PST MON FEB 11 2008 && ZONE AVALANCHE FORECASTS * OLYMPICS-WASHINGTON CASCADES GLACIER PEAK NORTH- Monday: CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger above 4000 feet and moderate below. Tuesday: Increasing CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger above 4000 feet and moderate below. * WASHINGTON CASCADES SOUTH OF GLACIER PEAK- Monday: MODERATE avalanche danger below 7000 feet. Tuesday: Increasing CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger above 4-5000 feet and moderate below. * MT HOOD AREA- Monday: MODERATE avalanche danger below 7000 feet. Tuesday: Increasing CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger above 5000 feet and moderate below. SNOWPACK ANALYSIS Stormy strong west winds, very heavy snowfall and a warming trend caused a major avalanche cycle late last week and Saturday. Snow accumulations ranged from 3-7 feet at Hurricane and sites near and west of the Cascade crest. This weather built heavier deep surface slab layers on many slopes. Some large and infrequently active avalanche paths released during the avalanche cycle. Avalanches closed all the highway corridors across the Cascades, the Paradise road, and the Mt Baker highway as a precaution. A house was destroyed near Lake Wenatchee and an avalanche ran into the main Alpental parking lot. Several of the avalanches are reported to have large trees in the debris indicating larger than usual avalanches. Mostly light amounts of rain or snow and some snow pack consolidation has been seen the past couple days. A moderate front crossed the Northwest Sunday. This brought a few inches of snow to mainly the north Cascades and was followed by cooler temperatures. This should have generally given the snow pack some time to begin to adjust to the stresses from all the recent heavy loads and warming. The avalanches and consolidating should have significantly lowered the previous high or extreme avalanche danger. No avalanches were reported by ski area or DOT crews on Sunday. No back country reports are available due to little or no recent back country travel. MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT A warm front should mainly affect the Olympics and north Cascades on Monday. This should cause some light to moderate amounts of rain or snow especially in the Olympics and north Cascades with slightly warmer temperatures. This should maintain damp or heavier surface snow especially in the Olympics and north Cascades. We recommend increasing caution near avalanche terrain in this area. Rain or snow should be lighter in the central and south Cascades. This should allow for further consolidation and stabilizing in that area. Back country travel on skis may be less than ideal in this area on Monday due to damp or heavier surface snow layers. Caution is also still advised near avalanche terrain the central and south Cascades. TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT Increasing southwest flow aloft should carry a cold front across the Northwest Tuesday midday and afternoon. This should cause increasing southwest crest level winds and increasing rain or snow with a cooling trend. This should build new storm cycle layers especially on lee slopes. This is most likely to be north to east aspects at higher elevations or where precipitation starts as snow and falls onto existing crust layers. At lower elevations precipitation should start as rain and change to snow. This should result in better bonds to previous snow surfaces. We recommend increasing caution especially at higher elevations Tuesday midday and afternoon. Remember that an avalanche forecast is a general statement of expected conditions and to make your own on site assessments of avalanche danger. &&