Nine people died in the Castle Peak avalanche on February 17, 2026, during one of the biggest storms in the last 50yrs. This is a internationally certified guide's breakdown of what happened, why it happened, and what you can do to prevent further deaths. We cover the snowpack, the terrain, the four route options, the human factor traps, and why the backcountry community, guides & the public, need stop-and-go guardrails like other high risk industries where lives are on the line.
In late January, Toronto was hit with what many experts said was the heaviest single day of snowfall in the city's history. In some spots, nearly 23in fell, driven in part by a collision of weather systems. The city had already removed 264,000 tonnes of snow from 1,100 km (680 miles) of roads, sidewalks and bike lanes by mid-February.
In Grazalema, Spain's wettest town, a year's-worth of rain fell in a fortnight and overloaded the karst aquifer beneath it. Water rushed into homes through floors, walls and even electricity sockets. Authorities ordered everyone to evacuate. I felt a lot of fear, said Sanchez Barea, a guesthouse owner whose home is one of hundreds still in an exclusion zone.
The last couple customers, unfortunately, will be a couple days out. There could be some stragglers that go into Thursday, but we're going to work really hard to have everybody on by Wednesday night, at midnight. Both electricity companies say they worked to restore power to customers all throughout Tuesday.
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.
as the EU's climate advisory board urges countries to prepare for a catastrophic 3C of global heating. Maarten van Aalst, a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), said the continent was already paying a price for its lack of preparation but that adapting to a hotter future was in part common-sense and low-hanging fruit. It is a daunting task, but at the same time
Devastating wildfires, flooding and winter storms were among the 23 extreme weather and climate-related disasters in the US which cost more than a billion dollars last year at an estimated total loss of $115bn. The last three years have shattered previous records for such events. Last Wednesday, scientists said that we are closer than ever to the point after which global heating cannot be stopped.
They said they called 911 the next morning, after hearing cries from a man outside who had also checked on the woman throughout the day. By 9:30 a.m. Saturday, NYPD officers found her lifeless in the side yard of the building on Remsen Avenue near Glenwood Road. Officials said paramedics declared her dead at the scene. The 64-year-old, whom the neighbors said they knew only as Barbara, was one of the 10 people discovered dead outdoors
As snowfall begins to blanket our city and conditions become hazardous, closing school buildings is a necessary step to keep New Yorkers safe, Mamdani said. Over the past week, my administration has prepared for this moment ensuring devices are in hand, families are informed and educators are ready to welcome students online. Our school system, and our city, is prepared to weather this storm together.
Dozens of skiers and snowboarders were treated to complimentary pizza and hot chocolate after requiring evacuation from a chairlift at Lutsen Mountains in northern Minnesota in the midst of bitter cold and windy conditions. Bring Me The News reports fire crews and ski patrol responded to scene at around 9:30am on Saturday morning when the chairlift malfunctioned in 56+mph winds and subzero temperatures. Rescuers focused on getting kids and more vulnerable people down first before fully evacuating the 40+ stranded guests.
Although many participants of the 2026 Winter Spine Race in England are still out on the 268-mile course at the time of this article's publishing, the leaders have made their way through frigid conditions and arrived at the finish line in Kirk Yetholm on the Scottish border. Racers set off at 8 a.m. local time on Sunday, January 11, in the village of Edale in Derbyshire on the southern end of the Pennine Way.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
Flooding has become the world's foremost climate hazard', according to experts. So what do we do about it? Devastating floods ravaged multiple regions of the world in 2025, from Southeast Asia to North America and the Middle East. We asked climate experts what is causing the devastation and what governments should be doing to prevent the situation from becoming even worse in the coming year.
To identify the 20 five-billion-dollar weather disasters since 2020, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information report, Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (2024). The 20 events are listed in order of the estimated cost of the damages, adjusted for inflation. Two of the events are winter storms, three are wildfires, four are droughts, five are severe storms, and six are tropical cyclones.
The cost of home insurance in the United States rose by ~89% between 2014 and 2025, as rapidly climbing home prices, more frequent extreme weather events and inflation impacted insurers and homeowners. ICE analysts share key insights from their recent 10-year study into the forces propelling rising insurance costs across the nation. Over the past decade, home insurance costs have risen rapidly in many parts of the United States.
Severe rainfall caused destructive flooding in southern Thailand, leaving the tourist city of Hat Yai waist-deep underwater and prompting the government to declare a state of emergency in Songkhla province on Tuesday. Officials said at least 13 people have been killed across four flood-hit provinces. How is Thailand responding to the floods? Also on Tuesday, Thailand prepared to deploy a naval flotilla of 14 boats and the aircraft carrier Chakri Naruebet,
Alone in the fog, after six days of running through the British mountains, Raf Willems began to speak with the grass and stones. About what, he doesn't know. The air was freezing, but he liked it that way; summer heat made for awful running weather. To be in naturethe thickening precipitation above, the undulating terrain belowpushing his physical limits was a thrilling adventure. Until he saw dead people lying in the snow, calling to him: Help, help, help me!
At least two people have been killed and 21 remain unaccounted for following a landslide in Indonesia, according to officials, as rescuers continue to search for the missing. Several days of heavy rainfall in the region led to landslides that hit dozens of houses in three villages in the Cilacap district, Central Java province, on Thursday evening, officials said in a statement released on Friday.
