 Poster: A snowHead
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A summary of the Swissinfo article.
The last few days has seen avalanches, floods, roofs collapsing, the lot. Some extracts:
Valais: Conches and Lötschental valley access roads closed; road to Loèchereopened Thursday evening, along with the rail link to Zermatt.
Rail link between Brigue and Kandersteg (Berne canton) suspended.
Thursday night: Furka rail tunnel cut off between Oberwald (Valais) and Realp (Uri), as well as the Oberalp between Andermatt (Uri) and Sedrun (Grisons).
Situation improving gradually this morning.
Roads are being closed for reasons similar to those that led to skiers being cut off from their destinations in the Tarentaise Valley last week, Val, Tignes, Arc 2000.
«Our policy to close roads is the correct one because several have already been crossed by avalanches» (Valais spokesman Charly Wuilloud). Setting charges was considered too dangerous because the snow was very heavy and further slides could be triggered unintentionally, he added, pointing out that another cold snap would helpt to stabilise the snowbase.
Thomas Wiesinger of the Swiss Avalanche Centre suggests three main reasons for the current high avalanche risk: a rapid rise in temperatures, combined with heavy precipitation of both snow and - worse - rain to 1800m. High winds at altitude add to the problem.
Friday sees a slight fall in the avalanche risk but with heavy falls expected Friday pm and Saturday the risk will be back at maximum, with little chance of it dropping in the next few days.
In Switzerland there have been 12 deaths in just 17 days, which should be placed in the context of a seasonal average of 24, Wiesinger added, explaining that heavy falls of snow on a shallow and fragile snowpack, aggravated by winds during the high seasons for ski tourism have contributed to the high death toll.
Thursday, early afternoon, an avalanche was triggered above Château d'Oex (Vaud). A 200m long by 500m wide slide finished on a resort piste - at this time there are believed to be no victims.
In the Berne canton, a slide of wet snow reached the bank of the Brienz lake. Road and rail links were cut to the village of Oberried. Heavy rain triggered numerous slides in the same area above the same side of the lake.
No trains between Brienz and Interlaken. Services not expected to resume before Sunday night. The main road is closed between Niederried and Brienz.
60 inhabitants of Niederried and Oberried have been evacuated because of avalanche danger, and the school closed.
The rapid rise in temperatures (by some 10°C) have caused rapid melting of snow in the Swiss Jura (Ajoie particularly affected) , Seeland, Soleure and Argovie cantons. Cellars and roads have been flooded.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowing again here in the Jura 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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