Avalanche
Contents
Anatomy of an avalanche
All that is necessary for an avalanche is a mass of snow and a slope for it to slide down. For example, have you ever noticed the snowpack on a car windshield after a snowfall? While the temperature is cold, the snow sticks to the surface and doesn't slide off. After temperatures warm up a little, however, the snow will "sluff," or slide, down the front of the windshield, often in small slabs. This is an avalanche on a miniature scale.
Of course, mountain avalanches are much larger and the conditions that cause them are more complex. A large avalanche in North America might release 300,000 cubic yards of snow. That's the equivalent of 20 football fields filled 10 feet deep with snow. However, such large avalanches are often naturally released. Skiers and recreationists are usually caught in smaller, but often more deadly avalanches.
The three parts of an avalanche path: starting zone, track, and runout zone. (Photograph courtesy of Betsy Armstrong; Source: NSIDC) Slab avalanches are the most common and most deadly avalanches, where layers of a snowpack fail and slide down the slope. Since 1950, 235 people in the U.S. have been killed in slab avalanches. Hard slab avalanches involve large blocks of snow and debris sliding down a slope. In soft slab avalanches, the snow breaks up in smaller blocks as it falls.
An avalanche has three main parts. The starting zone is the most volatile area of a slope, where unstable snow can fracture from the surrounding snowcover and begin to slide. Typical starting zones are higher up on slopes, including the areas beneath cornices and "bowls" on mountainsides. However, given the right conditions, snow can fracture at any point on the slope.
The avalanche track is the path or channel that an avalanche follows as it goes downhill. When crossing terrain, be aware of any slopes that look like avalanche "chutes." Large vertical swaths of trees missing from a slope or chute-like clearings are often signs that large avalanches run frequently there, creating their own tracks. There may also be a large pile-up of snow and debris at the bottom of the slope, indicating that avalanches have run.
The runout zone is where the snow and debris finally come to a stop. Similarly, this is also the location of the deposition zone, where the snow and debris pile the highest. Although underlying terrain variations, such as gullies or small boulders, can create conditions that will bury a person further up the slope during an avalanche, the deposition zone is where a victim will most likely be buried.
Avalanche factors: what conditions cause an avalanche?
Several factors may affect the likelihood of an avalanche, including weather, temperature, slope steepness, slope orientation (whether the slope is facing north or south), wind direction, terrain, vegetation, and general snowpack conditions. Different combinations of these factors can create low, moderate or extreme avalanche conditions.
Keep in mind that some of these conditions, such as temperature and snowpack, can change on a daily or even hourly basis. This necessitates constant vigilance of your immediate surroundings while doing any wintertime backcountry travel. The route you chose may be safe when you begin, but may become dangerous if conditions change dramatically throughout the day.
While this may seem like a lot of work, once you understand factors that can cause avalanches, most of these signals require simple observation to evaluate your surroundings as they change. Simply ask yourself, when are conditions sufficient to cause a mass of snow to slide down a slope?
The following factors often occur in combination to produce an avalanche, but if a slope is unstable in any way, it may take only the weight of one skier to set off an avalanche. The more foresight you have about conditions and situations to avoid the safer your outing will be.
Weather
Avalanches are most likely to run either during or immediately after a storm where there has been significant snowfall. The 24 hours following a heavy snowstorm are the most critical. Consequently, it becomes important to be aware of current weather conditions as well as the conditions from the previous couple of days. Temperature, wind, and snowfall amount during storms can create fatal avalanche conditions during your outing. If there has been heavy snowfall the day or night before your trip, it may be wise to postpone the trip in order to avoid the increased avalanche danger.
Snowfall
Recent snowfall puts extra stress on the existing snowpack, especially if it does not adequately bond to the pre-existing surface layer. The extra weight of new snow alone can cause a slab to break off and fall down the slope, particularly in storm-induced avalanches. Snowfall amounts of one foot or more (frequent in mountainous areas) create the most hazardous situations, producing avalanches that are often large enough to block highways and cause major destruction. Amounts of six to twelve inches pose some threat, particularly to skiers and recreationists. Amounts less than six inches seldom produce avalanches.
Temperature
Because snow is a good insulator, small temperature changes do not have as much effect on snowpack as larger or longer changes do. For instance, shadows from the sun crossing the snow surface throughout the day will not significantly change snowpack stability. Changes that last several hours or days, such as a warm front moving through, can gradually increase temperatures that cause melting within the snowpack. This can seriously weaken some of the upper layers of snow, creating increased avalanche potential, particularly in combination with other factors.
When temperatures rise above freezing during the daytime and drop back down again at night, melting and re-freezing occurs, which can stabilize the snowpack. This is particularly common during the springtime. When temperatures stay below freezing, especially below zero degrees Fahrenheit, the snowpack may remain relatively unstable.
Wind direction
Wind scouring snow off of the windward side of the peak and depositing it on the leeward side. (Photograph courtesy of Richard Armstrong; Source: NSIDC) Wind usually blows up one side of a slope or mountain (the windward side), and down the other (the leeward side). Blowing up the windward slope, wind will "scour" snow off the surface, carry it over the summit, and deposit it on the leeward side. What this does is pack snow unevenly on the leeward side, making it more prone to avalanche. A cornice or icy overhang at the top of a mountain or ridge is a telltale sign of wind scouring. It is safer to travel on the back, or windward side of such a slope, where the snow layer is thinner and wind-packed.
Although it seems like a small amount because the snow may look light and powdery, the weight can add up significantly and can be a critical factor if a slope is already unstable. In the Northern Hemisphere, storms generally move from west to east. Consequently, the leeward slopes are most often the northeast, east, and southeast facing slopes. These slopes become easily wind-loaded and will more readily avalanche. Many ski areas are built on slopes with these orientations and must use prevention measures to counteract the natural avalanche conditions that build up on these slopes.
Snowpack conditions
Perhaps the most significant factor (but not the only one) is how the snowpack has developed over the season. We only see the surface and maybe the top few layers of snow, but it can be layers of snow several feet deep that may ultimately determine whether the slope will fail.
Understanding the history of snowpack for that season can reveal several clues about slope stability. The snowpack as a whole may change not only during the course of the winter season, but throughout the course of a single day, due to changing weather and temperature conditions. This is why constant awareness and frequent slope testing are necessary.
Snowpack conditions are extremely important because many layers of snow build up over the winter season. Each layer is built up under different weather conditions and will bond differently to the subsequent layers. Snowflakes, or snow crystals, within the snowpack eventually become more rounded due to melting/re-freezing and settlement. This metamorphism allows them to compress and (generally) form stronger bonds.
In between snows, the temperature may rise and melt the exposed surface layers, which when they re-freeze create a smoother, less stable surface for the next snowfall. Failure is much more likely to occur during or after the next few snowfalls. Rain between snows creates a slicker surface as well, and can weaken the bonds between snow layers. On the other hand, light snowfalls and consistently cold temperatures help strengthen the snowpack and make it more resistant to avalanche. Weak layers deep in the snowpack can cause avalanches even if the surface layers are strong or well bonded.
A new layer of surface hoar on the snow. Note the quarter for scale. (Photograph courtesy of K. Williams; Source: NSIDC) A type of snow called depth hoar (a course, grainy form of snow crystal) is often the culprit behind avalanches. Because of its granular structure, similar to dry sand, depth hoar bonds poorly and creates a very weak layer in the snowpack. Unfortunately, the weather conditions necessary to produce depth hoar most often occur very early in the season, and these weak layers are buried under subsequent snows. All too often, deeper depth hoar layers are discovered only after an avalanche has swept off the overlying layers.
Slope angle
Most avalanches occur on slopes between 30 and 45 degrees, but can occur on any slope angles given the right conditions. Very wet snow will be well lubricated with water, meaning it might avalanche on a slope of only 10 to 25 degrees. Very dry or granular snow will most likely avalanche on a slope close to the 22 degree angle of repose. Compacted, well-bonded layers create a snowpack that can cling to steeper slopes until a weak layer is created.
You can measure the slope angle with an inclinometer, or you can "eyeball" it by dangling a ski pole by the strap and estimating the angle. Of course, you may want to practice before using this technique in the backcountry to be sure of your accuracy. Be aware that a single slope can have varying degrees of steepness across its face, depending on the terrain. You may start out on a gentle 25 degree angle, but as you cross, the slope may steepen significantly enough to become an avalanche hazard.
Slope orientation
Although avalanches will run on slopes facing any direction, most avalanches run on slopes facing north, east, and northeast (also the slope directions that most ski areas are located on). Because the sun is at such a low angle, particularly during the winter, a colder and deeper snowpack develops. Slopes that are under shadow throughout most of the day are suspect because the snowpack remains cooler, without much of the melting and bonding that can make the snow layers stronger.
Remember also that certain slope orientations are much more affected by wind-loading, particularly northeast, east, and southeast (similar to the orientations mentioned above). If you are not already familiar with the terrain, taking a compass along would be a good idea. Alternatively, if you know where you are going ahead of time, you could potentially plan your route in such a way as to avoid suspect slope orientations, especially if other potential avalanche factors exist.
Terrain
Paying attention to where you are in the grand scheme of things can offer clues about avalanche likelihood. Bowls and gullies are suspect at any time, regardless of other conditions. Snow can accumulate deeply and quickly in these areas, increasing the possibility of an avalanche. Even if you can see that an avalanche has already run, be wary. Avalanches can fall in a "piecemeal" fashion, where one avalanche will run and leave the rest of the slope weakened, and the slightest provocation can cause subsequent avalanches on that same slope. Smaller depressions or shallow gullies in the [[mountain]side] can also be hazardous. During an avalanche, these "terrain traps" serve as accumulation points for snow and debris in which a victim could be buried.
Crossing steep slopes where you may trigger the avalanche yourself should be done cautiously. In contrast, as you cross a valley floor you may also be caught in an avalanche triggered naturally on the steep slope above you. Therefore, during hazardous conditions minimize the amount of time traveling beneath avalanche starting zones and never camp in a potential avalanche runout zone. Even a small avalanche starting high on the slope can carry down large amounts of snow onto and across the valley floor. Remember to keep an eye out for obvious avalanche chutes, where avalanches occur more frequently.
Vegetation
On a snow-covered slope, heavily forested areas are much safer than open spaces, but don't assume that any vegetation at all will be protective. Lone trees, bushes, or large rocks on a mountainside can sometimes weaken the stability of the snowpack. A fracture line (the break-off point for an avalanche) may run from a lone tree to a rock to another tree. Also, during avalanches, trees and rocks catch debris and cause excessive snow pile-up, as well as provide lethal obstacles for anyone caught in an avalanche.
Tree line, above which conditions become too harsh for trees to grow, also plays a significant role in avalanche areas. Many avalanches start above the tree line, making high-elevation [[mountain]s] especially risky. Although forests help stabilize the snowpack, if an avalanche starts above tree line, it can cut its own path, or chute, through the trees below. Likewise, where there is a swath of trees missing from a forested mountainside (and it's not a ski run), there are probably frequent avalanches running down that particular chute.
Smooth surfaces, such as a rock face or grassy slope, may cause avalanches during the spring melting season. On the other hand, if the vegetation is very low-lying, such as tree stumps or shrubs, it can become buried underneath the first few snows and be relatively ineffective at anchoring the upper layers of the snowpack.
| Disclaimer: This article contains information that was originally published by, the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth have edited its content and added new information. The use of information from the National Snow and Ice Data Center should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content. |
