Recent Progress in North American Avalanche Forecasting and Control

The techniques of avalanche forecasting and control have found increasingly wide adoption in North America in the past decade. Numerous government and private agencies are now engaged in work to protect ski areas, highways, railroads and power lines. Practical control measures such as artillery fire have been developed to a high degree of effectiveness, but the construction of permanent defense structures other than snow sheds is still in its infancy. Experimental work on instrumentation, forecasting, defense structures and the use of explosives, artillery and jet aircraft is currently in progress.