Avalanche in the Swiss Alps.
Photo: Martin Wandel/iStock
Impacts on industry and infrastructure conditions over a broad area have become important man-
agement tools for economic sectors impacted by snow.
Certain industries depend heavily on reliable snow cover. Oil While they are not always accurate, they are the best avail-
and gas companies, for example, use ice roads in the Arctic able source of day-to-day information for most industries.
to gain access to resource fields. In order to protect the tun-
dra ecosystem, temperature and snow-depth criteria must Impacts on environmental hazards
be met before a company builds an ice road. Other indus-
tries benefit from less snow, as snow-removal costs can be Snow avalanches, in which large quantities of snow slide
significant for both small and large businesses. Events such down a mountainside, are major hazards in steep terrain,
as mid-winter melting or rain-on-snow can cause flooding causing economic losses, injury and loss of life. Fatalities
and lead to damage of roads, bridges and homes
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. due to avalanches in the western United States increased
to 25 per year in the 1990s
96
. In the European Alps, there
The amount of snow per event, number of events per sea- was an average of 114 victims per year between 1975 and
son, timing within the day and work week
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all affect the 1988, three quarters of them mountain and ‘off track’
economic impact of snow. The economic impact of a snow skiers
97
. Factors that create high risk of avalanches are:
event on a region’s infrastructure also depends on popula- slopes of 35–45°, new snow accumulations of 50–100 cm,
tion density. For example, the Northeast Snow Impact Scale and high wind speeds; the order and thickness of layers
(referring to the northeast region of the United States) takes within the snow pack are also important
98
. Increasing
population density as well as snow-cover extent into account events of rain-on-snow as in the western United States,
in assessing economic impacts of a snow event
94
. Expecta- noted in the “Trends and outlook” section above, may
tions also play an important role in determining the eco- enhance the triggering of avalanche release. This is an
nomic impact of climate changes
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, including changes in increasing risk at lower elevations and in coastal moun-
snow cover. Weather model forecasts that depict weather tains with rising winter temperatures.
CHAPTER 4 SNOW 57