LEXICON: avalanche

A mass of objects such as snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside. In the case of snow avalanches, these are typically caused by a force being applied to the snowpack that overcomes the frictional forces holding the snow in place, ultimately causing a slide.

Each historic snowfall has its own characteristics such as; the size and shape of the snowflakes, wind direction and air temperature. These snowfalls make up the layers in the snowpack, the strength of bonding between these layers, the ground and other natural features vary. When force is applied the bonding maybe overstressed causing the bond to break and a slide to occur.