Over 120 Avalanches Recorded Since Thursday

The Icelandic Met Office continues to receive reports of avalanches that have occurred over the past few days, with the total now exceeding 100.

According to the Met Office, more than 122 avalanches have been reported in the Westfjords and the Tröllaskagi Peninsula since last Thursday.

There has been a state of uncertainty due to avalanche risk in the Tröllaskagi and Westfjords regions for almost a week. On Thursday, heavy snowfall accompanied by northeasterly winds triggered avalanches. Strong winds on Sunday then caused snow to accumulate in slopes and depressions, resulting in many more avalanches.

Harpa Grímsdóttir, head of the Avalanche Division at the Met Office, told RÚV the avalanches have been concentrated in northern Westfjords, along the coast, and in the outer Tröllaskagi north of Dalvík. Other areas of the country have largely escaped.

“These are avalanches that we have been able to observe and register. We expect that many more avalanches have occurred in areas where no one has seen them, so they are not recorded. Some may have fallen in poor visibility or bad weather before anyone could see them. These are likely smaller avalanches,” Harpa said last night on the radio.

The Met Office has received further reports of avalanches since speaking with Harpa. Tómas Jóhannesson, an avalanche specialist at the Met Office, said that some of these avalanches occurred earlier in the storm cycle but were only officially recorded last night.

“Reports are still coming in of avalanches that happened earlier in the storm, which people are only now becoming aware of,” Tómas told RÚV.

For example, an avalanche fell over a geothermal borehole site in Skútudal, east of Siglufjörður. Several pump sheds for the utility are located there, but Tómas pointed out that they are specially reinforced to withstand avalanches — and they have done so many times.

Check road.is and vedur.is for updates before travelling this week.