Last Thursday, the volcano on Montserrat had a ‘partial dome collapse event’ and spewed hot gases, rocks and ash in rolling pyroclastic flows. These flows careen down the mountain and sweep across the sea for half a mile or so. The current Hazard Level is at level four on a five-point scale so something is brewing deep within the mountain. The winds on Thursday were uncharacteristically out of the southwest which blew the ash cloud directly over Antigua. The sky had a thick haze and fine grey ash covered everything in a thin film. Looking out to sea, it appeared as if a fog bank was lingering just offshore. Flights in and out of Antigua were cancelled as the ash reached altitudes of 40,000 feet and reeks havoc on jet engines. On Friday morning, the sunrise was striking in its colors and the winds shifted back to the east, clearing the skies of ash. The Montserrat Volcano Observatory runs a great website for news, videos and monitoring info at: http://montserratvolcanoobservatory.info/
Hi Gianni..Just got this POST A COMMENT figured out so I can comment. Your description of the volcano reminded us of our trip to Sicily where Etna erupted (we could see it belching stuff from miles away). When we arrived at our B&B, our hosts were sweeping very coarse, black lava dust from EVERYTHING, and writing ash in Italian on all cars, especially the white ones.
ReplyDeleteLove, Mum