After big snowfall in Colorado over the last few days, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) is warning those in the state of uncommonly hazardous avalanche conditions.
"It's dangerous out there. Very dangerous," CAIC said in a Facebook post on Tuesday morning.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued an Avalanche Warning on Tuesday for most of the CAIC zones including Vail and Summit County, Sawatch, Aspen, Gunnison, Grand Mesa, and the North and South San Juan zones. The warning went into effect at 7 A.M. on Tuesday, and will expire at 7 A.M. on Wednesday. This may be subject to extension or reactivation, with more big snow on the way this week.
A 'special avalanche advisory' was also issued by the Front Range and Steamboat and Flat Tops CAIC zones, currently in effect through Wednesday at 8 AM.
"Avalanches are breaking widely...up to a half-mile wide. You can trigger these avalanches from flat areas below steeper slopes. These avalanche conditions are not common so give yourself a wider margin of safety than normal," CAIC said.
The interactive map below shows the impacted zones.
There have been 121 avalanches triggered in Colorado over the last week alone, according to CAIC.
Avalanches are measured by their relative size and destructive force on a scale of 1-5. To put that in perspective, a level one destructive force avalanche is relatively harmless, a level two destructive force slide could bury or kill a person, level three could bury a car, level four could destroy a building, and level five could cause changes to the landscape.
Since last Monday, there have been nine level three destruction force avalanches that have taken place around Colorado, according to CAIC. Last week, there was also a level two destructive force avalanche that resulted in the first avalanche-related death of the snow season in Colorado.
"You can help us keep people safe by spreading the word at trailheads. Visitors from out of state may not realize the seriousness of these conditions. Help them out by telling them about some of the avalanches we have seen and how our snowpack is getting crushed with all of this recent loading," CAIC said.
When avalanche risk is this high, backcountry travel should be avoided. Those entering the backcountry should have proper avalanche training and gear that they know how to use.
Big snow is expected to keep falling in Colorado throughout the rest of the week. Find updates to this information on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center website.
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December 28, 2021 at 11:38PM
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Avalanche warnings issued, 121 slides occur in week: "It's dangerous out there. Very dangerous." - OutThere Colorado
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