From howitzers to heli-bombs: Canadian province fights rising avalanche risk

  • 📰 ReutersScience
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 58 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 26%
  • Publisher: 51%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

British Columbia is rolling out the big guns - literally - to control avalanches that are forcing closures on some major roads for the first time in decades as the Western Canadian province grapples with a snowier-than-usual winter.

B.C. was rocked in 2021 by extreme weather events, including a record-breaking heatwave, wildfires and unprecedented rains that washed out highways and cut off Vancouver, its main city and home to Canada's busiest port, from the rest of the country.

"It's been such a volatile fall and winter season so far, we have had rare 'extreme' avalanche warnings go out for parts of south coast in December and the risk is still considerable in the interior," said Tyler Hamilton, a Weather Network meteorologist. Along Highway 99 north of Vancouver, avalanche control and risk-reduction activities are three times the seasonal average, with some slide paths producing avalanches big enough to hit the highway for the first time in more than a decade.

Highway 1 is Canada's main east-west artery and approximately 3,000 vehicles traverse Rogers Pass every day in winter. A major Canadian PacificAvalanche control missions involve soldiers from the 1st Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, which is stationed in Rogers Pass in winter. They use a howitzer to fire shells packed with 4 kg of explosives in the direction of loaded avalanche paths at 17 different locations along the highway.

So far this winter the team has fired 333 howitzer rounds, produced 197 controlled avalanches and closed the highway for 43 hours over seven separate days.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

There are animals and birds up there, some are hibernating.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 559. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Automated Trading Tools Come to the Avalanche's DeFi Economy With Autonomy Network | HackerNoonAutonomy Network integrated Autoswap, a decentralized automated solution that provides trading tools to Trader Joe, bringing automated trading to the Avalance.
Source: hackernoon - 🏆 532. / 51 Read more »

BlackRock’s Larry Fink Defends Stakeholder Capitalism In Annual Letter To CEOsHe warned that companies that fail to slash their carbon footprint risk being left behind as billions of dollars are poured into the fight against climate change. I understand trusting random tweets on the internet is naïve, but how can you not trust me if you don’t even give me a chance. Asking for help from strangers isn’t all hunky dory, it’s done when other things have failed. Check out my pinned tweet, if you can help. 'Our continued denial of superior protection in recovered individuals,with or without vaccination, compared to vaccinated individuals who’ve never had the infection is simply unprecedented in modern history, proven fact and decades of fundamental immunology are somehow denied.'
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »

Barrick's Q4 gold output rises 10% powered by Nevada gold minesCanadian miner Barrick Gold Corp said on Wednesday its fourth-quarter production rose 10% sequentially, helped by strong performance at its Carlin and Cortez mines in Nevada.
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »

Real estate is the most 'zombified’ sector and rate hikes will be a big risk, says consultancyThere's a 'big risk' of real estate companies filing for insolvency when interest rates rise, said Nils Kuhlwein of consulting firm Kearney.
Source: CNBC - 🏆 12. / 72 Read more »

The Gartner Leadership Vision for 2022: Security and Risk ManagementSRM leaders are accountable for helping the enterprise balance the risks and benefits associated with digital business. Join our upcoming webinar to choose the cybersecurity technologies that will position the enterprise for a secure future: GartnerSEC
Source: Gartner_inc - 🏆 455. / 53 Read more »