Word: storm
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Maybe the storm warnings scared people...I don't know," said Tomassoni...
There is no question that Torp and his friends were tempting fate. They set out despite storm and avalanche warnings. During their sojourn, the skiers repeatedly heard the roar of snowslides letting loose. "It was sheer luck they didn't get caught in one," says Doug Bitterman, the avalanche forecaster who posted that day's warnings. Nearly three dozen avalanches rumbled through the area, posing an enormous risk to the rescuers...
...Colorado Rockies, this has been a season of slides. So far, this winter is shaping up as a record breaker. There have already been 2,260 avalanches, some of them powerful enough to topple full-grown trees. The reason for the surge is simple: big storms have dumped record amounts of snow throughout the Mountain West. Too much snow falling in too short a period sets up the slopes for a slide. The most recent avalanches, for instance, occurred in the wake of a storm that dumped as much as 8 ft. of the white stuff...
Avalanche danger is highest just after a storm because the snow crystals have not had time to forge bonds to one another and to crystals in the existing snowpack. Typically, bonding occurs over a few days' time. Under certain conditions, however, the crystals never bond, but remain loose like a pile of poker chips. This dangerous situation commonly occurs in Colorado, where temperatures are very cold (snow crystals bond most readily close to their melting point). The shape of the crystals is important too. A layer of graupel -- soft hailstones that behave like miniature ball bearings -- substantially increases the avalanche...
LOBBYING: Stirring Up a Storm in Washington...