Avalanches are making headlines
Randy Mann.
JAKE PARRISH/Press
Over the recent weeks, it has been reported that the western U.S. has been in the middle of a snow drought. However, conditions recently changed, especially in the mountains of California. Several feet of fresh and unstable snow hit the Sierra Nevada mountains in California early last week. A group of people on a backcountry skiing adventure got caught in the state’s deadliest avalanche in modern history. There have also been deadly avalanches recently reported in Utah and a string of avalanches in Austria due to heavy snowfall.
Avalanches occur when a mass of snow becomes unstable and slides rapidly down a mountain slope under the force of gravity. Although they may appear sudden and unpredictable, avalanches usually result from a combination of weather conditions, snowpack structure and terrain features.
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