Avalanche winter 1950/51 ¶

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Far above-average precipitation in November, January and February led to the disaster. In mid-January alone, it snowed for 88 hours without interruption. This amount of fresh snow of up to 250 cm only occurs every fifty to one hundred years. The facts:

• Two sad highlights in January and February
• Well over a thousand reported avalanches
• 98 fatalities
• 234 buried victims
• 235 head of cattle killed
• Around 1500 buildings destroyed
• Particularly affected: Airolo (TI), Andermatt (UR) and Vals (GR)
• Financial damage in the low, triple-digit million range (adjusted for inflation)
• 30,000 kilograms of consumer goods dropped from aircraft over cut-off communities in 167 flight hours

In a series, the SLF explains how the disaster occurred, how it has intensified research into avalanche protection, from protective forests to avalanche barriers and hazard maps - and how it is helping to make life safer for people in Switzerland today.