*** BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE AND MOUNTAIN WEATHER BULLETIN ***

Good  afternoon, this is Carol Ciliberti with the Forest Service Utah
Avalanche  Forecast  Center  with  your  backcountry   avalanche  and
mountain weather bulletin.  This is Sunday, January 18 and it's 3 pm.
This information  is brought to you in part by a generous donation to
the FUAFC from the Evolution Ski Company.

Bottom Line:
Avalanche warning in effect!
Northern,  central,  and  southwestern  mountains  and   the  Wasatch
Plateau: High avalanche danger at all elevations.

Current conditions:
Today has been a relatively quiet day in the backcountry, with no new
natural activity to report since yesterday's widespread events.  Snow
surface  conditions consist  of  dense snow  with  several inches  of
graupel on top, and plenty of wind affected snow.  Reports of turning
conditions vary from terrible  to pretty good on low  angle protected
slopes.  As  of about noon today winds turned to the SW and are light
at about  10 mph  at most  ridgetop locations.   Temperatures at  the
10,000' level this afternoon are in the mid 20's.

Avalanche activity:
Yesterday saw alot of avalanche activity, including many
large  natural  slides  along the  Park  City  ridgeline  and in  Big
Cottonwood Canyon.   Many of these  slides broke at the  ground or in
faceted  snow near  the  ground.   Control  above  the  town of  Alta
resulted in a couple of large slides that reached the road, hitting a
building and  vehicles.  All  of the activity I've  heard about today
has been associated with  ski resort and  highway control work.   The
most impressive  results were  in Provo  Canyon, where  several large
slides ran  at least 3000' of vertical, dumping a huge pile of debris
across the  highway.  In mid LCC control work resulted in a couple of
large  slides which dusted  the road.   The LCC  resorts were getting
deep slides on NE and west facing slopes, up to 5'  deep and a couple
hundred feet wide.  One of the Park City resorts had slab releases on
N and  S facing slopes,  pulling out in  a light density  layer mixed
with graupel under a hard wind slab.

Avalanche conditions:
The  avalanche  warning  remains  in  effect  for the  northern  Utah
mountains,  and  has   been  extended  to   cover  the  central   and
southeastern  mountains and  the Wasatch  Plateau.   There is  a high
danger of  human triggered  avalanches on  all slopes  approaching 35
degrees  in  steepness.   This means  that  both human  triggered and
natural avalanches are likely both in and around steep terrain.   The
hazard  will increase again with strong winds out of the SSW tonight,
and  heavy snowfall  expected tomorrow  morning.   Winds  tonight and
early  tomorrow will  be  strong  enough to  load  snow  down low  in
starting zones, with  cross loading  on a  variety of  aspects.   The
saturated  snow below about 7,500'  will form a  slippery bed surface
for slides when colder  air moves into  the area.  Another  potential
failing  layer for  slides  is  the  large  graupel  that  came  down
yesterday, which has been pooling in lower angle terrain.
Finally, there  is a light density  layer of snow mixed  with graupel
buried anywhere from 1-3' deep  in the pack under a stiff  wind slab.
This  layer has produced some  large slides with  control work today,
and could be resensitized with wind loading and new snowfall over the
next 24 hours.
People without very well developed avalanche and route finding skills
should  avoid backcountry  travel  tomorrow.   Stay  away from  steep
terrain, including terrain  traps at the lower  elevations like steep
gullies and streambeds.   Stay well out  from under steep slopes  and
avalanche runout zones.

Mountain weather:
Increasing clouds  tonight and strong  SSW winds developing  ahead of
the next storm system.  We'll have sustained  winds of 50 mph or more
along the most exposed ridgelines with higher gusts likely.  It looks
like  another violent  frontal  passage coming  through  around 8  am
tomorrow  morning,  with  a  good chance  of  lightning  and  intense
snowfall  for a couple of hours behind  the front.  Light to moderate
snowfall  should continue  through  the afternoon,  with upper  level
subsidence  cutting things off in  the evening.   Storm totals should
end up at around  a foot to 1.5  feet.  Temperatures tonight will  be
near 30 at 8000', cooling down to 20 degrees during the day tomorrow.
Tomorrow's highs at 10,000' will be in the mid-teens.
The  longer range models  show the next storm  associated with a weak
disturbance moving across northern Utah Tuesday night.

If you  see anything we should  know about please leave  a message on
our answer machine at 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140.

For more detailed information call 364-1591.

-To find out where the  Wasatch Powderbird Guides will be  skiing and
to get their schedule, call 521-6040 x 5280.
-Comments  on the scoping notice  analyzing the impacts  of issuing a
new 5-year  permit  to WPG  need  to be  received  by the  SL  Ranger
District by Jan 30, 1998.

The  information contained in this  bulletin is from  the U.S. Forest
Service   which  is  solely  responsible   for  its  content.    This
information describes general  avalanche conditions, local variations
always occur.

Seth Shaw will update this bulletin by 7:30 Monday morning.

Thanks for calling.
Ciliberti