Avalanches

WHY DO AVALANCHES OCCUR?

There are roughly one million avalanches a year. Avalanches are caused by layers of deposited layers of snow that has built up. However, these layers are different from each other physically, with different weights. The weakest and lightest layer of snow crumbles and breaks under the weight of the heavier layers above it and releases all of the snow, which falls and creates what is known as an avalanche. This is a snow avalanche although there can also be ice avalanches which are much rarer but travel faster up to top speeds of 400 km/ph and is when huge chunks of ice break off from a glacier. Sometimes, ice and snow glaciers occur at the same time, as seen in Weisshorn in Switzerland, where there were 37 fatalities.
There are a variety of different types of snow avalanches as the snow differs. Sugar snow is very light but dangerous. They are large, round and cup-shaped snow crystals, which act like ball bearings, causing any snow on top to slide right off...