900 AM PST TUE FEB 12 2008 && ZONE AVALANCHE FORECASTS * OLYMPICS-WASHINGTON CASCADES GLACIER PEAK NORTH- Tuesday: CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger above 5-6000 feet and moderate below increasing late afternoon. Tuesday night early Wednesday: CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger above 4000 feet and moderate below. Wednesday afternoon and night: Decreasing danger becoming MODERATE below 7000 feet with pockets of CONSIDERABLE above 5000 feet, mainly near ridges. * WASHINGTON CASCADES SOUTH OF GLACIER PEAK- MT HOOD AREA- Tuesday: MODERATE avalanche danger below 7000 feet increasing late. Tuesday night early Wednesday: CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger above 5000 feet and moderate below. Wednesday afternoon and night: Decreasing danger becoming MODERATE below 7000 feet with pockets of CONSIDERABLE above 5000 feet, mainly near ridges. SNOWPACK ANALYSIS A very stormy period from late January through the first week of February deposited 3 to 8 feet of snow in the Cascades and Olympics. Warming and rain or heavy wet snow last Thursday through late Saturday caused a major avalanche cycle with widespread large natural avalanches. Many avalanche paths released that have not been active for 20-30 years and many slides were larger than seen in many years, some involving large trees and massive debris piles. All the major passes were closed during this cycle including the Paradise road on Mt Rainer and Mt Baker highway as a precaution. Significant snow pack settlement as a result of the warming, earlier natural avalanches and recent cooling have all helped to lower the avalanche danger since the weekend. Cooling and generally light amounts of new snow were deposited late Saturday and Sunday along with moderate winds. The main concern is likely shallow new wind slabs formed on lee slopes at higher elevations by Sunday and mainly in the north where more snow was received. Some recent reports indicate that at higher elevations on north aspects some nice somewhat settled powder snow still exists, especially in wind protected areas. At lower elevations some wet surface snow or thin melt crust layers are maintaining a moderate danger from wet snow avalanches. TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT A cold front crossing the area Tuesday afternoon should bring rain and snow at cooling temperatures along with moderate crest level winds. This should maintain wet snow at lower elevations and build some shallow new wind slab layers near ridges, mainly easterly facing slopes. WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT Decreasing snow showers and decreasing winds at further cool should allow for a decrease in danger. Any recently formed unstable layers should gradually settle and strengthen. Previous wet snow layers should refreeze at lower elevations with only shallow new snow above causing a generally moderate danger. &&