Avalanche
The above video is of a large scale avalanche coming down and covering Bessans, France, in a powder cloud on Monday afternoon, January 11, 2016. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Avalanche danger in the region was 4 out of 5.
The avalanche in France was not an isolated event in the southern Alps.
The below photos are of an avalanche absolutely whiting out Cervinia, Italy today, January 13, 2016. This avalanche came off 3,800-meter (12,467-foot) Jumeaux mountain. The powder clouds were enormous.
Again, no one was hurt in the Italian avalanche.
“Everyone who witnessed it was really scared but fortunately there was no damage to homes or roads,” the mayor of Valtournenche, Deborah Camaschella, told La Stampa.
These powder clouds were a mellow ones. Some powder clouds come with air blasts that snap full grown trees in half…
“Dry avalanches are the stunningly beautiful ones that roar down the mountain, light and fluffy, like clouds of powder, but beneath the misty powder cloud is a rushing mass of snow-the “core” of the avalanche-that is a fluidized mix of air (70 percent) and ice particles (30 percent). As the snow rushes through the air it kicks up an envelope of powder, appropriately enough called a “powder cloud,” which comprises only about one percent snow and 99 percent air, and this is the part of the avalanche that gives it its beauty.
In front of the powder cloud is the invisible “air blast” that pushes out in front of the moving snow. The air blast carries only about one tenth of the impact of the core, but it can travel fast enough to explode your lungs if you are caught by the full impact of the blast.” — Ultimate Ski
AVALANCHE PHOTOS
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