Seven more volcanoes

[MomH]

in the "Ring of Fire" are on yellow or orange alert -- 3 Alaskan and 4 Russian.

More info at
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/

[GalvestonDuck]

One in Mexico is active now also, isn't it?

[cycloneye]

Also there is the Soufriere in the island of Monserrat which has comed alive since 1995 making some eruptions.

[SouthernWx]

I just hope & pray Mt Hood, Oregon doesn't awaken.....my little sis and her family are only 45 miles away, and her hubby's fav aunt and uncle live in Mt Hood's shadow

[canegrl04]

Holy Mother of God,what is going on?

[Hou~TX~Mama]

Oh my gosh - I just don't understand. I can see the logic in people wanting to still live in Florida, even with the risk of hurricanes and such, because there is not always a constant threat lurking there. But to live in a volcano's shadow???? WTH???? Did they not learn anything from the 1980 eruption?
At least with a hurricane you have notice and can LEAVE.
Volcano - you're toast - literally.

I just don't get it.

[MGC]

You get plenty of warning that a volcano is starting to get active and can flee. You don't know exactly when it will errupt but you have a pretty good idea that it might. These volcanoes in the Pacific NW are small potatoes compared to the volcano sitting under Yellowstone in Wyoming. When it goes off it will be a disaster of epic proportions.....MGC

[Downdraft]

Yellowstone is a caldera volcano. If it erupted it would bury a substantial portion of the U.S. under ash. The devastation wouldn't be epic it would be biblical.

[OregonMom]

There really isn't anything unusual in the number of vocanoes that are active right now.

Here's a link to the Volcanism program site at the Smithsonian:
http://www.volcano.si.edu/gvp/faq/answer.cfm?faq=03
There are usually twenty or more active volcanoes in the world at any given time. They are as essential to the natural order of things as hurricanes.

We've had pretty good prediction with Mt. St. Helens here in the PNW.
I was in Portland when it blew the first time, shoveled the ash and replaced the air filter in my car about a dozen times, and watched the eruption from my back yard about fifty miles away. You couldn't pay me enough to live where hurricanes routinely happen

I guess you have to choose *which* natural disaster you'd prefer to deal with wherever you are. I really admire you guys in Florida for your fortitude.

[Brent]

Yellowstone is a caldera volcano. If it erupted it would bury a substantial portion of the U.S. under ash. The devastation wouldn't be epic it would be biblical.

If Yellowstone ever has a major eruption, it'd be a global killer(or close to it).

[SouthernWx]

Oh my gosh - I just don't understand. I can see the logic in people wanting to still live in Florida, even with the risk of hurricanes and such, because there is not always a constant threat lurking there. But to live in a volcano's shadow???? WTH???? Did they not learn anything from the 1980 eruption?
At least with a hurricane you have notice and can LEAVE.
Volcano - you're toast - literally.

I just don't get it.

Well, in Mount Hood's case...it's a dormant volcano....according to the U.S.G.S., the last eruption occurred in 1865. There are several large ski resorts on the side of Mt Hood, as well as campgrounds and resorts galore in the area (not to mention resort towns such as Sandy and Hood River). If Mount Hood ever becomes active again, an explosive eruption could be catastrophic.

Sis's in-law's live in scenic Hood River, Oregon.....almost in the middle between two dormant volcanoes...Mount Hood, Oregon and Mount Adams, Washington. You can clearly see both peaks from their living room.

In fact, even though sis lives in the Portland suburbs....45 miles from the 11,239' peak, on a clear day, you can see Mount Hood in the east....and the view is spectacular. Here's an awesome photo of Mount Hood, taken from west Portland...with downtown Portland's skyline in the foreground:

http://www.naosmm.org/confer/port-or/gi ... line03.jpg

[Guest]

Isn't Mount Rainier a volcano also? I thought that this was the most dangerous if it was to erupt?
I don't know much anout Volcanos, but have read some

[SouthernWx]

Isn't Mount Rainier a volcano also? I thought that this was the most dangerous if it was to erupt?
I don't know much anout Volcanos, but have read some

Hi Bob!

You are correct....Mount Ranier is potentially very dangerous. Many people now live in the eastern suburbs of Seattle...in areas where past eruptions sent vast lava flows. If (and IMO when) Mount Ranier awakens someday, at the very least it will cause a major disaster in terms of property damage...and potentially a large loss of life.

[Ixolib]

There really isn't anything unusual in the number of vocanoes that are active right now.

Here's a link to the Volcanism program site at the Smithsonian:
http://www.volcano.si.edu/gvp/faq/answer.cfm?faq=03
There are usually twenty or more active volcanoes in the world at any given time. They are as essential to the natural order of things as hurricanes.

We've had pretty good prediction with Mt. St. Helens here in the PNW.
I was in Portland when it blew the first time, shoveled the ash and replaced the air filter in my car about a dozen times, and watched the eruption from my back yard about fifty miles away. You couldn't pay me enough to live where hurricanes routinely happen

I guess you have to choose *which* natural disaster you'd prefer to deal with wherever you are. I really admire you guys in Florida for your fortitude.

...but at least I can watch a hurricane make it's every move live via radar and satellite. Can't do that with volcanoes and earthquakes.

[SouthernWx]

My younger sister lives just south of Portland, Oregon. She's a southern girl....born and lived here in metro Atlanta until age 28, then three years in Jackson, Mississippi until her hubby was transferred to Portland in 1997.

Sis is deathly afraid of tornadoes, and not fond of intense thunderstorms....yet after experiencing her first earthquake in Oregon a couple years ago (the Tacoma quake), said it was much more frightening than any storm she'd experienced (and sis survived a 1974 tornado that severely damaged our home).

Her exact words: "at least with the tornado, I had a little warning....with the earthquake, one second everthing was normal and the next I was lying in the kitchen floor" (jolted off her feet). "Thank the Lord, I'd just come down from the top of that ladder, or I'd probably be dead" (from cleaning her chandelier located 20' ft. above the living room floor

I've never been afraid of storms...have chased both tornadoes and hurricanes, but earthquakes scare me..

[Derecho]

Holy Mother of God,what is going on?

Nothing. This is PERFECTLY normal.

At any given moment at least a half dozen volcanoes around the world are erupting, and at times even more. This has been true all of this year, recent years, and for probably the entire history of the earth.

What you're seeing is something called the "attention effect." Because of Mt. St. Helens news organizations are putting up more stories of other eruptions, and people are searching out eruption news on the web.

For example, the Mexican volcano Colima has been erupting regularly for the last 6 years. The AP simply bothered to put up a wire service story on it today.

At any given time, about 2-3 volcanoes in Alaska and the Aleutians are either erupting or showing signs of erupting. A lot of people who don't normally follow volcanoes simply bothered to check today.

The problem is unless you follow volcanic activity regularly, it seems like there's a lot of unusual activity...because it's taken out of context.

It's NORMAL for volcanoes to erupt; there are thousands of them in the world. The media normally gives no coverage to these eruptions. They do today because they're thinking volcanoes because one in the mainland US is erupting.

The really unfortunate thing is stuff like this gets exploited by religious apocalyptic nuts for their own ends, taking advantage of the lack of education of the public.

[Derecho]

Well, in Mount Hood's case...it's an extinct volcano....according to the U.S.G.S., the last eruption occurred in 1865.

Mt. Hood is not extinct by ANY definition. In Geology, 140 years is an eyeblink. Mt. Hood is considered an ACTIVE volcano by volcanologists, actually. Any volcano that has erupted in the last 10,000 years is considered "active."

Any volcano that hasn't erupted in the last 10,000 years but is believed to have the chance to be active again is considered "Dormant."

Volcanoes that haven't erupted in 10,000 years but are believed to have no chance of erupting are considered "extinct."

Mt. Pinatubo hadn't erupted for 460 years prior to its cataclysmic eruption in 1991, for example.

Mt. Hood has had several seismic swarms in the last 20 years, actually.

There isn't a geologist in the world that would be surprised if Mt. Hood erupted next year.

[SouthernWx]

Dormant....yes that's the correct term Der. I stand corrected (and a little worried, because I've heard the same info as you....seismic activity around Mt Hood that could signal trouble on the horizion

[GulfHills]

Yellowstone is a caldera volcano. If it erupted it would bury a substantial portion of the U.S. under ash. The devastation wouldn't be epic it would be biblical.

What is a caldera volcano?

[BUD]

More VOC. active means a cold winter.I think Well that what our old science teacher told us when I was going to school.