The characteristics of the snow cover should be determined in advance. If there are weak layers in the snow, you should be careful not to fall.
In Lapland avalanche risk is not higher than usual for the time of year. However, safety should be taken into account when descending outside the groomed slopes, because the risk of an avalanche exists in the spring hang.
The thickness of the snow cover is now about a meter or slightly less, and according to the current forecast, no heavy snowfalls that increase the risk of avalanches are coming, says the chief meteorologist Alberto Blanco Sequeiros From the Institute of Meteorology.
Those heading north for Easter will probably enjoy the very spring weather.
“Normal weather for this time of year. The sun is starting to melt the snow, even if the air temperature doesn’t go above zero. The snow cover will then subside,” says Blanco Sequeiros.
Ten in today’s forecast, the daytime temperatures are on the plus side in all of Lapland, and the night temperatures are around five degrees below zero.
In the avalanche forecast maintained by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the hazard category of fell areas is mostly moderate at the second level. In Käsivarre, Kilpisjärvi, the risk is a notch higher at level three, which means the risk of an avalanche is considerable. Forecasts are prepared daily, and they apply to untreated natural slopes.
In northern Norway, Tromssa experienced devastating avalanches on Friday, in which at least one person died four people. According to Blanco Sequeiros, it seems that the spontaneous avalanches were triggered by heavy snowfall.
Read more: “Obviously, it’s dangerous here now”, says a Finnish freelancer – At least four people dead, an avalanche swept a house into the sea
Read more: New avalanches in Norway on Saturday, residents were evacuated
Snowing is, according to Blanco Sequeiros, the biggest factor in the creation of avalanches.
The new snow that falls on top of the old snow weighs down, so the old snow has to stabilize, i.e. equalize the new weight and the pressure caused by it. Due to the weight, the snow slowly compacts and balances.
An increase in mass, for example as a result of snowfall, can cause tension in the snow cover, which in turn can cause the snow cover to collapse. This creates an avalanche on the slope.
“You could describe it in the way that when a person is holding a shopping bag and you start putting cans of milk in it, that hand shakes every time the can falls into the bag. The situation is somewhat the same in that when you start adding mass to the snow, it is not immediately able to react to that mass until it levels out,” says Blanco Sequeiros.
In addition to snowfall, the weight that causes an avalanche can also be a skier or a snowmobile. The point-like pressure caused by the skier can put a lot of pressure on the snow cover.
“In Finland, most avalanches are caused by human activity. Actually, we have not had any sightings of an avalanche caused by a sled, they have all been skiers, skiers or snowboarders,” says Blanco Sequeiros.
According to Blanco Sequeiros, it rains less snow in Finland than, for example, in Norway or Central Europe, which is why avalanches are more often caused by other reasons.
My own the difficulty comes from the fact that avalanches are difficult to predict. In addition to snowfall and, for example, the weight of the skier, the characteristics of the snow cover and the composition of the snow play a role.
Luck also plays a part in the birth of an avalanche.
“It’s precisely these situations where you go down the same slope two or three times, and nothing happens. Then on the fourth time it starts to collapse,” says Blanco Sequeiros.
Those looking for powder snow should find out the characteristics of the snow in advance and refrain from counting if there are weak layers in the snow.
Local knowledge is also important. In addition to the snow falling down the slopes, dangerous situations can be caused by so-called snowdrifts, which can form on the edges of the slopes when the wind piles up snow in the fells.
It is also important to remember safety and safety equipment.
“A pager and a cell phone and a shovel and a probe, and that never alone on the slopes. You always have to let us know where you are,” Blanco Sequeiros enumerates.
#Avalanches #Avalanches #difficult #predict #calculator #find #safety #advance
