Shortly after a controlled avalanche was scheduled for Thane Road Friday, an avalanche above Behrends Avenue — a residential neighborhood in downtown Juneau — caught some local residents off-guard.
Behrends Avenue is a well-known avalanche path, with a disastrous avalanche taking place in 1962; an avalanche mitigation study was conducted in 2012.
Juneau Community Service Officer Jennifer Adams heard the Behrends Avenue avalanche at about 10 a.m. and took a photo from near Centennial Hall. She went to investigate and found no residential damage or blocked roads in the area, said .
The Behrends Avenue avalanche was a big, impressive-looking powder cloud, but it stopped well short of any houses, said City and Borough of Juneau Emergency Programs Manager Tom Mattice.
Avalanche control took place on Thane Road, south of downtown Juneau, from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, closing the road temporarily. This is a controlled situation where an avalanche is set off by the Alaska Department of Transportation, which fires a Korean War-vintage howitzer, Mattice said.
“Obviously with both man-made and natural avalanches occurring, this is a reminder that there is a weakness in the snowpack in the backcountry that will exist for a while,” Mattice said. “The danger levels will remain high this weekend and people should remain alert.”
“This is always a good reminder to stay safe,” he added. “In the backcountry, people should be carrying avalanche transceivers, proves and shovels, and should be skiing with partners.”
VIDEO:
Watch a video of the natural avalanche above Behrends Avenue on the Juneau Empire Facebook page.
Watch a video of the scheduled, man-made Thane Road avalanche here.
• Contact reporter Liz Kellar at 523-2246 or liz.kellar@juneauempire.com.
