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When Snow Roars Like Thunder

The low rumble heard by Anne-Catherine Ronga could have been thunder. But she, her husband and their 9-year-old son soon realized that the noise outside their vacation home in Switzerland was something far more dangerous. An avalanche, a wall of snow loosened by unstable layers of snow and ice underneath it, was rushing toward them.

"Kitchen windows were broken by a terrible force, cold wind. And the kitchen was buried under the snow," Ronga said. "We hid under the table." The family waited for rescuers, who finally dug them out eight hours later.

It was just one of many avalanches that roared down mountains in Austria and Switzerland last week. At least 37 people died. The snow crushed houses, sent cars tumbling end over end and uprooted trees.

The Alps, a range of mountains in Europe, have had their worst avalanches in nearly 50 years. Heavy snowfall combined with periods of warmer weather between storms has made mountaintop snow unstable. This increases the chance of an avalanche. "No one could foresee the force of these avalanches," said Michel Clavien of Valais, Switzerland. "Not everything in nature is predictable, and we need to approach it with utmost respect."

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