"It's the US' deadliest avalanche season in years. Experts say Covid is partially to blame."
There are three things you need for an avalanche. The first is slope, which is pretty obvious. You can't have snow barrelling down a mountainside if there's no mountainside to barrel down, and mountains don't change much year to year.
Okay, most mountains don't change much year to year, so that's not what's different now.
Second is "snowpack."
Every storm brings a different type of snow, which builds in layers. This year, the weaker layers are deep in the snowpack, while the stronger layers are on top. That makes for an incredibly unstable surface, says Brian Lazar, deputy director at CAIC.
"This year we are seeing a pretty dangerous snowpack, the kind of unique conditions that only come around once every 10 years or so," Lazar told CNN. "This structure is highly conducive to producing avalanches."
You'd think that would be the main story.
But there's a narrative to support (Covid is terrifying and is going to kill us all), so we move to the third thing you need:
A trigger.
A trigger is basically people disrupting the snowpack with their activity.
How is Covid being held to blame?
Follow the logic:
- Covid spreads in closed places.
- People are seeking out open places which are deemed safer.
- Among those open places are ski slopes and snow-covered mountainous back country where you can engage in various winter activities such as skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling.
Okay, I guess. It sounded like that once-every-ten-years thing was kind of big, too, and avalanche deaths have been rising dramatically for years and have been projected to do so, and people are returning to normal activities as virus cases drop anyway...
But, hey, forget all that, we've got ourselves another scary Covid headline that people will believe without question.
No word on whether they were listed as "Covid deaths."
Well, at least they didn't blame it on white supremacy.
Oh, right.
