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Pastimes : The Economic Impact of Severe Weather
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To: Benny-Rubin who wrote (137)3/14/2014 2:28:10 PM
From: LoneClone  Read Replies (1) of 170
 
Hey, we've got an interesting and deadly weather-related phenomenon going on in BC right now.

I refer to 4 people dying in avalanches here over the past 10 days.

The reason begins with January being the second driest ever recorded across most of the province. This meant that on south-facing slopes the sun was able to melt the snow a little bit before each day it refroze each night. Meanwhile, we had a lot of north winds bringing down dry polar air (as opposed to our usual warmer maritime flows from the west) and this has a similar effect on many north-facing slopes.

So we ended up with a layer of snow that was turned into something akin to tiny ball bearings made of ice/snow. Since then we have had a lot of precipitation, which in the mountainous areas mostly fell as snow, on top of that layer of ball bearings.

This means we are getting lots of avalanches in the usual areas, but also in many areas that don't usually see then very often, including a number of lower elevation areas where they haven't been seen before at all. The warnings have been broadcast far and wide, but you know how outdoors people are, particularly about areas they are already familiar with. So they head out on their snowmobiles and skis and set off avalanches which sometimes kill them.

It's actually pretty amazing there have only been four killed so far.

I have a distinct memory from when I was a kid of stopping while driving through Rogers Pass in the Rockies to watch them bring down avalanches with artillery shells before we could continue on our way. I would never take that chance.

LC
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