Five snowmobilers killed after British Columbia avalanche

By Mark Leberfinger, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

January 30,2016; 9:40PM,EST

 

 

Five snowmobilers are dead after an avalanche struck their party on Friday in British Columbia, Canada.
The avalanche occurred near McBride, B.C., according to CBC News.
At least three separate snowmobiling parties were caught in the avalanche that occurred around 1:30 p.m. PST Friday (4:30 p.m. EST), the RCMP told the CBC.
In this Jan. 11, 2016, photo a pair of diagonal lines left by a skier cross dozens of lines left by "roller balls," snow rolling down a slope and a warning sign of avalanche terrain, on a distant slope during an avalanche awareness field trip for teenagers, at Mount Baker, Wash. Anyone going skiing or snowmobile this weekend should be alert for potential avalanches from the mountains of Washington into British Columbia. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson).
Above-normal temperatures covered the region ahead of Friday's avalanche, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Rinde said.
"There have been above-normal temperatures in Prince George (a nearby weather observation point) since Jan. 13, with the average temperatures being about 11 degrees Celsius (20 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal," Rinde said.
RELATED:
How to stay safe when venturing into avalanche terrain
AccuWeather winter weather center
Watch viral videos on the AccuWeather video wall
It was 7 C (45 F) on Wednesday and Thursday in Prince George, Rinde said.
Above-normal temperatures will continue for one more day on Saturday but will fall back below 0 C into next week, Rinde said.
Eleven people have died from avalanche accidents in January in the United States, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center said. Ten of those deaths have occurred since Jan. 16.