| Avalanche-a large
mass of snow, ice, and other debris, that has detached from a mountain
slope and suddenly starts to slide or fall downward.
Avalanches kill more people in the U.S. than Earthquakes every year.
A rise in temperature or an earthquake may loosen the snow causing it
to
give way, or cause a new fall of heavy snow. The layers of the snow are
a way to predict if an avalanche could fall soon or if an avalanche won’t
be able to stir up. The snow on the surface begins to slide from a single
point, collecting more snow as it moves, and widening out into a triangular
shape, creating what is commonly called a sluff. Once the avalanches
start,
they are capable of snapping the tops off trees and destroying everything
in their path. When the snow falls to the ground and it is at the foot
of the hill, the snow hardens giving someone who is trapped under the
great amounts of snow a slim chance of survival.
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