Several cars were almost hit by an avalanche that fell on the road across the mountain pass Ólafsfjarðarmúli, leading to Ólafsfjörður in North Iceland, around 7:30 pm yesterday evening.

Archive photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.

One car drove into the avalanche when the avalanche was about to come to a halt and the driver required assistance from search and rescue to get the car out, visir.is reports.

The avalanche measured 2.5 points, which means that it can prove fatal with the volume of snow reaching at least 1,000 tons.

The road has been closed since last night. It is considered likely that other avalanches fell on Tröllaskagi peninsula, where the towns Ólafsfjörður and Siglufjörður of the Fjallabyggð municipality are located.

The Icelandic Met Office warns against avalanche risk in the area, however only in uninhabited areas.

The West Fjords, North and Northeast Iceland were subject to heavy snowfall and stormy conditions last night, leaving roads impassable in many places.

Search and rescue in Hólmavík had to assist people whose cars were stuck on Steingrímsfjarðarheiði mountain pass yesterday evening and search and rescue in Súðavík travelers by Ísafjarðardjúp, visir.is reports.

This morning the weather was improving in most locations and road workers had started clearing the snow, except in the West Fjords.

Follow weather forecasts on vedur.is and road conditions on vegagerdin.is. Also check out safetravel.is.

ESA