What causes an avalanche?

What causes an avalanche?


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Chris Stone. Ju Zhang 03 November 2016 6:00am GMT In this video we examine how an avalanche is triggered, resulting in a dramatic collapse of snow from the mountainside. There are three main


elements that make them more likely to occur; the gradient of a slope, the quantity of snowfall and the climate conditions. Avalanches occur most commonly in areas with repeated, heavy


snowfall. This is the third episode in our Natural Disasters video series that discusses the science behind a range of natural phenomena and examines their cause and effect. Future episodes


in this series will look at the causes of floods and volcanic eruptions, while last week’s episode focused on what causes a tsunami.