ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupted several times Thursday, spewing a more than 12-mile-high cloud that could drop ash on Anchorage for the first time since the volcano began erupting Sunday night.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory said the first eruption around 8:30 a.m. shot an ash cloud about 30,000 feet in the air, and a second eruption about an hour later sent ash 65,000 feet high — the highest cloud since the eruptions began. Five to 10 smaller eruptions followed, with none of their plumes surpassing 20,000 feet.
The largest eruption caused a mud flow into the Drift River near the base of the volcano.
Before Thursday's eruptions, the volcano had been relatively quiet for more than a day.
"We can have these large explosions pretty much any time," said Stephanie Prejean, an observatory seismologist. "We don't know how long this will continue."
When Redoubt last erupted 20 years ago, it went on for four months.
The National Weather Service said prevailing winds were expected to carry ash from the larger eruption east across Cook Inlet toward some of Alaska's larger communities. An ash fall advisory for the western Kenai Peninsula covers the towns of Kenai, Soldotna and Cooper Landing.
The weather service said a trace of ash was reported south of Kenai and at its airport, but it wasn't expecting any significant accumulation from Thursday's eruptions.
Ash dropped Thursday afternoon on Homer, a tourist and fishing town at the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula.
Juxia Scarpitta, owner of Halcyon Heights Bed and Breakfast in Homer, said the ash had obliterated her view of the bay and turned the snow into what looked like a carpet covered with gray dots.
"It is falling pretty fast," she said.Story
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Its amazing how nature works. this is really amazing, reaching 12 miles high WOW.
ReplyDeleteWhy can NASA build some base by a volcano and use its force to launch rockets into space????