I think some may be over estimating the possible destruction just a tad if it does erupt. However, it would surely destroy some beautiful country in and around Yellowstone.
We have a beautiful view of what remains of Mt. St. Helens from our place, it’s about thirty miles to the north of us. Hopefully it doesn’t erupt again cuz I’m gettin’ too old for that stuff. :)
It would make a large mess.
Old Harry Truman had a plan.
not the president.
But if it does a super eruption, its possible everything east to about the Mississippi would be buried in ash. And not an inch or 2.
Its possible that rocks could rain down within a couple of hundred miles. After being blown 80,000 ft up.
St Helens caldera is 2 miles by 2 miles, or 4 sq miles.
Yellowstone's is approx 35 miles by 43 miles, approx. 1500 sq miles.
I YS really blows, it will be horrendous. Actually it has had a massive blow every 600,000 years give or take a few hundred thousand years. Its last big blow left a caldera 30 miles in diameter. Mt. St. Helens crater is less than a mile in diameter. Mt. Pinitubo in 1991 left a crater 3 miles in diameter, and remember the havoc it caused here the next few years. The 500 year flood of the Mississippi, terrible snow and ice storms in various parts of the country. The state of Pennsylvania closed for 3 feet of snow. It would destroy some beautiful country about 1,000 miles downwind, and probably at least 100 miles on all sides. Also millions of people if it happened suddenly, and probably more than a billion world wide over time.