Avalanche, Upper Columbia Basin
- When
- March 8, 12:00 PM PST to 12:05 PM PST
- Where
- Upper Columbia Basin forecast zone
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Coordinates
- 47.610, -119.173 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Avalanche in Washington, March 8, 1997
An avalanche kills a man while snowmobiling.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.
An avalanche kills a man while snowmobiling.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, Upper Columbia Basin | 1997-03-08 | 28 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
What these are
- Avalanche
- A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Wind in Alaska, March 8 to 10, 1997
- Wildfire in South Carolina, March 8 to 14, 1997
- High Wind in Montana, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
- Hail in Nebraska, March 8, 1997
More
Every storm in Washington in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, March 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5596625.