"Little is known about how a group of 15 backcountry skiers and guides came to be engulfed by an avalanche near Castle Peak in Tahoe's backcountry, leaving six survivors. What is starting to become clear are the conditions that led to the tragedy. But there is also a historic precedent for the events that unfolded this week: the avalanche at Alpine Meadows 44 years ago that left seven dead."
"A cold and wet weekend storm system had rushed through the north shore of Lake Tahoe and dropped several feet of fresh snow in mere days, shifting the landscape to a mountain of white, as well as the narrative of a region suddenly having to dig out. And it wasn't just the snowfall that was remarkable, but the extreme weather conditions that accompanied it:"
A group of 15 backcountry skiers and guides was engulfed by an avalanche near Castle Peak, leaving six survivors. Conditions that contributed to the event include intense recent snowfall following a historically dry January. A near‑identical precedent occurred in spring 1982 when a late‑March storm delivered several feet of snow and extreme winds to Lake Tahoe. That storm produced very high avalanche hazard, with snowfall rates reaching five to eight centimeters per hour and winds near 100 mph with gusts to 120 mph. A slab more than 4.5 meters deep and 900 meters wide broke and killed seven people at Alpine Meadows.
Read at SFGATE
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