Snow, Weather, and Avalanches: Observational Guidelines for
Avalanche Programs in the United States
This document was produced through the cooperative efforts of
the American Avalanche Association (A3) and the Forest Service
National Avalanche Center. Its creation involved a working group
from a broad cross section of avalanche workers in the U.S. getting
input from the general membership of A3 and cooperation from the
Canadian Avalanche Association.
The result is this working document that we expect to be updated
every five to ten years.
This electronic copy is not printable, and is meant to be a resource
for folks to check out the guidelines, view the contents, and
do electronic searches. Bound hard copy of the document can be
purchased through the American
Avalanche Association at their virtual store. The additional
forms and charts at the bottom of this page are printable.
For an article on the creation of this document (to be published
in the 2004 Proceedings of the International Snow Science Workshop)
click here.
The document:
Introduction - includes the Table
of Contents
Chapter 1 - Manual Snow and Weather
Observations
Chapter 2 - Snowpack Observations
Chapter 3 - Avalanche Observations
Glossary
Appendices - Appendix A (References),
Appendix B (Units), Appendix
C (Metadata), Appendix D (Observational
sites for meteorological measurements), Appendix E (Part
1 and Part 2) (Automated weather
stations), Appendix F (Part 1 and
Part 2) (ICSI classification for
seasonal snow cover on the ground), Appendix
G (Avalanche danger, hazard, and snow stability scales), Appendix
H (Reporting avalanche involvements), Appendix
I (Symbols and abbreviations)
Additional Forms and Charts:
Avalanche accident reporting
form (short form, electronic version, MS Word template)
Avalanche accident reporting
form (long form, electronic version, MS Word template)
Avalanche data codes
Conversion charts
Sample datalogger programs
Snow profile forms
Additional resources:
The
International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground
Snow
Symbol Fonts from the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche
Research (SLF)