Avalanches Facts
Avalanches Facts
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Interesting Avalanches Facts: |
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Most avalanches occur on a slope that has an angle between 30 to 45 degrees as steeper slopes slough off the snow continuously, which avoids snowpack buildup. |
The most risky time for an avalanche is in the 24 hours following a 12+ inch snowfall. |
An avalanche can reach high speeds in a short period of time, as fast as 80km an hour in only 5 seconds. |
In some areas prone to avalanches crews will trigger them under safer conditions to reduce the buildup on dangerous slopes. |
The human body sinks in avalanche debris quickly. After the avalanche snow slide has begun to slow, a buried victim should clear space to breathe and punch their hand upward, before the snow slide stops as the snow becomes like concrete immediately. |
The survival rate of a victim buried by an avalanche is 91% if rescued in 18 minutes or less. |
When rescue occurs between 19 and 35 minutes after the avalanche, the survival rate of victims is only 34%. |
The main reasons that people die in an avalanche are due to wounds, hypothermia, and suffocation. Only one in three people that are buried during an avalanche are found alive. |
The worst avalanche disaster in the United States took place in 1910. A train wreck triggered the avalanche and approximately 96 people died as a result. |
Avalanches can occur as a result of snow build up that was wind driven and not from direct snowfall. |
A snowpack can be weakened by very cold, hot, or windy weather. |
Preventative measures are often taken in areas where human life is threatened by avalanches. Repeatedly traveling on a snowpack can help to stabilize it. Explosives can be used to trigger small avalanches. |
When explosives are used they can be delivered by hand, dropped by helicopter, or even shot as a projectile to its intended target area. |
It is estimated that approximately 40,000 to 80,000 soldiers died during World War I as a result of avalanches at the Austrian-Italian front. |
In the 1955-51 winter season, there were 265 people killed in avalanches in the Alps of Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Austria. The avalanches became collectively referred to as the 'Winter of Terror'. |
In 1999 in Montroc, France, an avalanche killed 12 people in their chalets after burying them in 100,000 tons of snow. |
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