![]() ![]() coast, and those that do must contend with the coastal mountain ranges. The situation may be more complicated in B.C. Source: Benjamin Hatchett, Desert Research Institute in Nevada In Canada, no one has yet mapped the connection between ARs and avalanches. triggered by ARsīenjamin Hatchett, an atmospheric scientist at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada has connected atmospheric rivers over a 16-year period to deadly avalanches in the U.S. That’s 31 per cent of the avalanche deaths in the region during those 16 years.įatal avalanches in the U.S. between 19 happened during or just after atmospheric rivers. If a catastrophic earthquake hits Vancouver, there won’t be enough water to go aroundĪ study, co-authored by Hatchett and published in 2017 in the Journal of Hydrometeorology, found 105 avalanches that killed 123 people in the western U.S. “But I don't think that's true for most municipalities,” Kuttner said. Since the 2005 slide, the District of North Vancouver has done considerable work to address major landslide risks in the region. As extreme weather events become more common, she doesn’t want anyone else to have to go through what she did. If elected, one of her key priorities will be local preparedness. Today, at 28 and having just defended her doctoral dissertation in astrophysics, Kuttner is running for the Green Party in the riding where her mother was killed. The Kuttners’ house shouldn’t have been there, Kuttner said. In the aftermath, a coroner found there had been landslides in the area in the preceding decades and pointed to a government report from the 1980s that said there were risks of future slides during periods of heavy rainfall. The slope behind the Kuttners’ house was already unstable and it couldn’t withstand the downpour. We have a lake downstairs that's about 6 inches deep,” she wrote. In the hours before she died, her mother Eliza sent her an email. It brought torrential rains and triggered a landslide in North Vancouver that destroyed two homes, killing Eliza Kuttner and seriously injuring her husband. This was an AR of exceptional strength, a Category 5. The blues correspond with a weak AR, the greens with a moderate AR, the yellows with a strong AR, and the pinks with an extreme atmospheric river. The different colours in the core of the AR signal its strength based on the amount of water vapour being transported. This animation shows the atmospheric river as it strikes B.C. ![]()
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