Roof snow slides in Colorado are as serious as snow avalanches in the mountains. Not many people think about them on a daily basis, but over the past 30 years over five people have lost their lives due to this accident. This is most common with metal roofs. In fact, twelve inches of snow can weigh 10 pounds per square foot on a roof. Now imagine a whole roof of snow falling on you. This is what happened to two teenagers on March 18th, 2024 in Breckenridge, Colorado. 

A roof avalanche is most likely to occur during December and April, but can happen in other months. They can happen during a snowstorm or shortly after between temperatures of 30-45 degrees. If lots of snow falls on you It may be impossible to dig out. Not only can you not breathe when in the avalanche, but several pounds can also injure your body. Also, If you don’t have any protection it may be very dangerous to try to rake or shovel snow off of your roof with more than one foot of snow. “It’s pretty dense. Very compact stuff, witch makes it very heavy.” says Mike Cooperstien, of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Not only were these teens unfortunate, but also on March 16, 2023 a father and two kids were buried in a roof avalanche. One kid unfortunately died. 

The teens were playing outside like they would any other day, when the snow partially collapsed on both of them. Fortunately one was not injured. Unfortunately, one was seriously injured in the accident. “Roof avalanches are a problem every year in mountain communities, but right now we have a lot of snow in unusual places. We remain concerned about this hazard throughout the week.” says Director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), Ethan Greene. 

To prevent this from happening you can choose from multiple different snow guards to put on the edge of your roof. These are common in many mountain communities. Also, don’t play with icicles or even go near slanted roofs after or during a big snow storm, keep a shovel nearby, and always stick with one or more person. You can also shovel or rake the snow off your roof before there is lots of snow to reduce the amount of snow falling during an avalanche.

In conclusion, roof avalanches are very serious and not uncommon, so stay alert whenever you are outside, not only for your safety, but for others.