Snowflakes are one of mother nature's
most exquisite creations--
fragile snow crystals that dazzle us in an array
of shapes and sizes.
But there's a lot more to these intricate ice formations
than meets the eye.
Turns out that by looking a lot closer,
snowflakes may also help us save lives.
Here's correspondent Francesca Fiorentini's fascinating look
at the secrets of snowflakes.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: Beautiful and delicate, but also deadly.
MAN: It came out of nowhere.
When you're caught in an avalanche, it's terrifying.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: Most avalanche deaths
are caused by suffocating under deep drifts
or from the blunt force trauma inflicted
by the onrush of snow.
In fact, these giant masses of snowflakes
can reach speeds of 80 miles per hour within about five seconds.
MAN: Imagine being in a car crash,
and you're trying to just hopefully save yourself.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: And time runs against you.
After an hour has passed, only one
in three of those hit by an avalanche are found alive.
The threat is so real that 150 people
get killed by these juggernauts around the world every year.
In just a two-week span in February, 2018, seven
people died from avalanches in one area of Washington state.
Three of them lost their lives on mountain passes
just like this one.
REPORTER: Three people have been killed
in two separate avalanches over the weekend.
Rescuers found an adult near Stampede Pass
in Kittitas County yesterday.
These deadly incidents illustrate the extreme risk--
not just in the back country, but even
on the heavily used trails.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: That's why I
came here to the shadow of Mt.
Rainier to meet the daredevils that stop these deadly beasts
before they strike.
So what's strange is that you all work for the Department
of Transportation.
When I think of the DOT, I don't think of avalanches.
I think of a bus depot, or--
Right. Right.
Yeah.
Because we have snowy mountain passes and avalanche hazard,
we also have avalanche specialists who are
highway avalanche forecasters.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: State Route 140 takes us
up the mountain on the Chinook Byway, a 92-mile hotspot
for avalanches.
And this road turns out to be one of the worst
places an avalanche can hit.
With 30,000 vehicles a day, and midweek,
we have 7,000 to 10,000 semis--
so there's a tremendous amount of people
moving across the highways, but also a lot of goods.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: We finally make it to Chinook's
actual mountain pass.
The snowiest mountain pass that WSDOT operates.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: It's here where we find clues
to the formation of avalanches.
We have today's snowfall.
And then we can look at this upper layer.
That can pull off pretty easily.
It's sitting on this nice, thin little crust.
It's very fragile.
Underneath that is this really loose,
unconsolidated, wet snow.
Yes.
As we move down, it gets a little more firm, and again,
wetted snow underneath there.
We can start to see some additional layers.
So the fact that there are different consistencies of snow
layers actually make the conditions for an avalanche
more likely.
More likely, exactly.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: It's not long before John's team finds
a classic avalanche trigger--
a cornice, a mass of hardened snow hanging
precariously above the road.
And you see the big overhanging piece of snow?
That's the cornice that we're looking at.
Your concern is that it's going to fall on its own.
If it falls on its own, yeah.
We hope to remove the cornice and make that area safe.
Meaning explode it away?
Exactly.
So the crew started setting up explosives in that area.
Would you hold that, Andy?
Sure.
Thank you, sir.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: The demolition team
has a tough task.
They need to blow up the cornice without rattling
the surrounding area and setting off an uncontrolled slide.
This is going to be loud.
All right.
You ready for this?
I think so.
OK.
All right, guys.
3, 2, 1, fire.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
You can see the slide coming down now.
There it goes.
Whoa!
That was crazy.
That went really fast.
Yeah, that looked good.
OK.
Copy that.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: Their work is crucial for people's safety
and for the economy.
But what if there was a better way
to prevent avalanches than hunting them down one by one?
Well, in order to understand avalanches,
you first have to understand snowflakes.
I'm here at Montana State University's Subzero Lab, where
researchers are at the forefront of discovering
the science behind snowflakes.
This 27,000-square-foot facility is
one of the leading cold science research centers in the world.
Yeah, OK.
Now I get it.
I know why it's a subzero lab. OK.
How cold is it in here right now?
Around minus 10 Celsius.
All the time?
All the time.
Over here in the center, can actually see the crystals grow.
That is so cool.
So if you put your glove behind--
May I take a snowflake?
Sure.
Wow.
It's beautiful.
That's totally doable.
Lab Director Dr. Ed Adams says there's a lot more
to snowflakes than we think.
Snow is-- it's kind of like a shape shifter.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: Snowflakes aren't frozen raindrops.
They form when water vapor in clouds skips the liquid phase
and crystallizes straight into a solid.
There are at least 35 types of snowflakes.
Some are shaped like needles, others
are dotted with ice granules, and some
are irregular crystals.
Even though all of them fall at the same time,
when it comes to forming avalanches,
the prettiest one of them all can be the fastest to act out--
the stellar dendrites.
The little stellar dendrites, those
little star-shaped crystals--
Those are the beautiful, holiday card, star snowflakes.
Excactly.
Exactly.
After they hit the ground, then they
go through this metamorphism.
They tend to change form.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: Most snowflakes generally
have six arms formed by the accumulation
of water molecules--
two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
But the stellar dendrites' arms are particularly unstable.
They morph faster than other snowflakes, which can create
a continuous hard layer of snow that can stretch
across entire mountainsides.
But sometimes, the snowflakes stay separate,
creating a weak, pillowy layer.
If another hard layer is forged on top of this snowpack,
the millions of snowflakes beneath them
have set the stage for one of the most deadly forces
on Earth.
You've got a strong layer.
You've got a little weak layer.
Then we have a strong layer on top of it.
That's your recipe for the avalanche.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: By studying the mechanics
of a snowpack and analyzing the snowflakes inside it,
Dr. Adams' team is trying to improve avalanche prediction
in order to save human lives.
Ultimately, what could your research lead to?
Could you imagine something like a Google Maps of avalanches
in the next 15, 20 years?
Yeah, certainly.
We can get closer to that.
FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: One day you might
be able to browse an app that tells you
where the snowflakes to avoid lie.
But until then, avalanche hunters
are going to keep trudging into the back country
to try and understand and prevent the next disaster.
So the next time you see snow falling from the sky, just
remember that these tiny crystals are
beautiful, but also dangerous.