Submitted by Mammoth-Corner t3_10nu6ks in askscience
djublonskopf t1_j6hm4xn wrote
A snow-slab avalanche is triggered by structural failure in a weak layer of snow beneath the "slab". It takes 200-500 Pascals of pressure change to cause the weak layer to structurally fail and trigger an avalanche—easy enough for explosives or a skier directly atop the snow.
The sound wave of a loud human scream can only achieve a pressure amplitude of about 2 Pa, however, which is two orders of magnitude too weak. Even a passing jet plane would only see a wave amplitude of 20 Pa, although the shockwave of a passing supersonic jet can be enough (the study that proved this, while I don't have a link, was amusingly titled Opération "Bangavalanches".)
So, no, somebody yelling loudly is not going to trigger an avalanche, but a passing supersonic jet shockwave might.
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