A map posted online this month by Washington Post meteorologist and USTornadoes.com co-founder Ian Livingston shows the “most frequent cause of weather fatalities by NWS County Warning Area,” which divides the country by the 122 National Weather Service offices.
What was the most common weather-related killer among the three Colorado-based weather service offices? Avalanches.
https://twitter.com/islivingston/status/1173752635436032001
Weather-related fatalities along the Front Range tend to be caused more by flooding and lightning, at least based on official weather-related fatalities logged by the National Weather Service during the past 20 years.
https://twitter.com/islivingston/status/1173759447468036096?s=20
That said, it’s often avalanches that create the most weather-related heartbreak each year. Since 1999, 119 avalanche fatalities have been recorded in Colorado, or an average of about six per year. That’s the most avalanche-related deaths of any state in that 20-year period. Alaska is next, with 88 avalanche-related deaths since 1999.
Eight avalanche deaths were recorded in Colorado last winter, all of which took place this calendar year, .
Based on a collection of outside studies, some weather-related deaths in Colorado since 1999 include:
— An estimated 68 to 75 from winter weather,
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Colorado is well-known for its wide variety of weather hazards, but the state’s vulnerability to avalanche-related deaths is perhaps less known. The state’s lengthy snow year, heavy snowfall, high and steep terrain and variation in different types of snow and temperatures makes it uniquely susceptible to avalanches.
For more on avalanche safety, .
