--> Go to our latest "weekly update" online version <--

Sign up to receive this News in your email
(No more than once daily, usually less depending on the amount of news.)

2026 Archive Index - All Editions

In This Edition:

The Swiss avalanche winter of 1951 - Part 2

[A very interesting historical review and analysis, watch for parts 3-5]

Avalanche winter 1951 redefines barrier technology

After 1951, the SLF stepped up its research into avalanche protection. The findings led to a move away from walls, the usual defence mechanism until then, towards the snow bridges and snow nets that remain common today, and to a set of guidelines that still serve as a global benchmark.

"Federal subsidies for avalanche protection increased substantially after 1951," says Stefan Margreth, head of the Avalanche Protection Measures research group at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF).

This also led to intensive research into the most effective methods of avalanche protection, looking at which measures offer the best protection in which locations, and the issues to be considered when planning and designing them (see the 'History of avalanche defence' box). SLF researchers measured the forces acting on different types of defensive structure as a result of snow pressure and avalanches. They established a dedicated test site on the Dorfberg above Davos, built snow bridges out of wood, aluminium, wire ropes, steel and concrete and compared their effectiveness with the walls and terraces that had been the predominant means of avalanche protection throughout Switzerland until then. All the measures operated on a similar principle, the aim being to prevent snow from becoming detached and forming avalanches. However, the snow bridges turned out to be significantly more effective. "So very soon people started moving away from walls and focusing entirely on the modern, separated supporting structures," says Margreth.

On a smaller scale, SLF researchers also investigated how snow that is transported by the wind can be deposited in a controlled manner in order to optimise its distribution so that the avalanche danger is as low as possible. Both snow fences and wind deflection systems (kolk crosses) get the snow out of the wind and strategically deposit it in safe places. "Snow fences also help prevent too much snow from accumulating in snow supporting structures," says Margreth. This is important because, once the snowpack reaches the height of the supporting structures, they can lose their effectiveness if any more snow falls.

In the next instalment, available from Tuesday, 3 February, we'll learn how the avalanche winter of 1951 marked the launch of hazard maps.
More ... (SLF)

Multiple Avalanches Close Pennsylvania Road

Pennsylvania police have warned drivers to avoid Coxton Road in Duryea, Pennsylvania after avalanches blocked the roadway rendering it impassable on Sunday, according to local reports. Officials said snow and debris covered the route and urged motorists to use alternate routes and avoid travel unless necessary while crews responded. Duryea Police issued an urgent traffic advisory Sunday afternoon after significant avalanches blocked Coxton Road beyond the 900 block, cautioning that snow and debris made the road impassable and asking drivers to avoid the area. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was notified and was expected to respond. Duryea Police said they would provide updates as crews worked to clear Coxton Road and remove avalanche debris; officials asked drivers to use alternate routes until conditions improved.
Source ... (Newsweek)

Canada's Earliest Recorded Avalanche

The earliest recorded avalanche in Canada’s history occurred not in the mountain ranges of Quebec or Ontario, or in the bountiful B.C. backcountry, but on the quiet shores of Newfoundland and Labrador. The tragedy was discovered by “keen historian” Wallace J. McLean while he was researching papers related to the Moravian church. McLean found, in a postscript to a 1782 letter signed “your sincear well wishers, the Missionarys at Nain and in their names,” this account: “A Lamentable Circumstance has happened this last winter [i.e. 1781-82] about twelve miles from us [i.e., at Nain], upon the edge of a hill under which was an Esquimaux winter hauss where 31 Esquimaux lived, there gatherd a monstrous body of snow which shot all at once down and pressed the winter hauss even with the ground, with all the people in it excepting one man who was buried in the snow without. Out of 31 only 9 got out alive.”

More than 200 years later, the tragedy is not only the earliest recorded avalanche in Canada (possibly even North America), it stands as the worst avalanche disaster in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador, and in fact Eastern Canada. It’s also the worst avalanche disaster in Canada to affect people in their houses.
Source ... (Pique)

Three More Avalanche Deaths in France - Photos

The avalanche death toll this month continues to rise. In Tignes an off piste skier was caught in the Lavachet area. He was in a group and it is understood they triggered the avalanche themselves. He was the only one caught in the slide. Ski patrollers from the resort witnessed the avalanche and were quickly on the scene and were joined by rescuers from the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité, CRS. The victim, equipped with an avalanche transceiver, was found unconscious by the rescuers. The man was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:19 pm. He was a Spanish man in his 50s.

In the French Pyrenees two men, 60 and 70, died on a black run at the Grand Tourmalet ski resort, in a section of the ski area closed to the public due to a storm. All the main runs had been closed by the severe weather conditions with winds exceeding 100 km/h. They had set out on a ski touring expedition on Sunday and did not return. Relatives of the two experienced and well-equipped skiers alerted the authorities. Their bodies were found during the night between Sunday and Monday after the alarm had been raised. They could not be recovered until Monday morning. It is likely they were caught in a wind-slab avalanche said the authorities.
Source (with photos) ... (PlanetSki)

Avalanche of fake snow images from Kamchatka

Six images circulating online, depicting snow mounds burying apartment buildings, claimed to show the effects of snow in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula in January 2026. The first four images in a popular Instagram post were AI-generated, while the fifth was first posted online before the Kamchatka snowstorm and showed signs of being AI-generated. It was not possible to determine whether the sixth image was AI-generated.

In January 2026, Kamchatka, a peninsula in Russia's frigid far east, faced its heaviest snowfall in 60 years, according to Reuters. The snowdrifts blocked building entrances and buried cars. Social media users posted images of what they claimed authentically showed the snow in one Kamchatka town. One Instagram page posted a set of six images (archived), purportedly from Kamchatka, showing mounds of snow burying apartment buildings. Numerous Instagram and Threads users posted the same, or similar, collections of pictures, while other people posted videos featuring the same imagery.

The first four images of the first Instagram post originated from post (archived) by Threads user @ibotoved on Jan. 17, 2026. The caption, in Russian, read: "Kamchatka today according to Threads." The user commented on multiple posts that shared the images, claiming to have created them. He also replied (archived) to some comments under his original post and others' posts by saying the images were AI-generated. Days later, the account posted a screen recording (archived) showing how the user used AI to generate the images. That post's caption (translated from Russian to English): "When a prank went beyond reason. Millions believed the unrealistic footage, even though everything was obvious. In short, 'How Kamchatka Was Made.'"

The fifth and sixth images of the Instagram post did not originate from @ibotoved's Threads post. While it was not possible to confirm the exact source of either, the fifth was not from the January 2026 Kamchatka snowstorm and was likely AI-generated, while the sixth was also unlikely a real image from Kamchatka.
More ... (Snopes)