AVALANCHE UPDATE: Moderate snow, winds forecast Wednesday; possible strong winds Saturday

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Up to eight millimeters of precipitation and winds gusting to 43 kilometers an hour are forecast Wednesday, with additional occasional snow during the week and possibly strong winds this weekend, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and Storm.no.

Snow is expected begin falling early Wednesday and will be at its heaviest during the afternoon and evening, according to the NMI. Winds are forecast to reach peak speeds late in the morning.

The institute’s forecast for Saturday is a trace of snow and light winds, but Storm.no is forecasting winds up to 58 km/h Saturday and Sunday.

The storm that triggered Saturday’s avalanche produced about 21 millimeters of precipitation and winds peaking at 120 km/h.

Svalbard Gov. Kjerstin Askholt said Wednesday’s storm is not expected to present an avalanche danger in areas previously evacuated, noting experts who assessed vulnerable areas erred on the side of caution when determining the risk of future slides. The experts and local officials will be continuously monitoring areas considered at risk until further notice.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.

marksabbatini@yahoo.com

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