Posted on 03/23/2009 4:14:42 AM PDT by wolfcreek
FAIRBANKS — After months of rumbling, Alaska’s Mount Redoubt volcano erupted three times late Sunday and early Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsminer.com ...
I’m about 140 miles north by north west, look at the map and look between Houston and Wasilla, thats where I am, Kathy in Alaska is in Anchorage, which I think is 100 miles from Redoubt.
I just checked the snow and no ash yet, its more to the east of me but is now reported to be falling on the ground as far as Talkeetna another 60 or more miles further north from me.
the weather patterns are more to the north, they have usually been north-west to west.
That’s hot.
The volcano is pretty far from Anchorage. People forget the scale of Alaska.
Other than ash clouds and airplanes this isn’t really much of a threat to human life at all.
Have you ever been to Alaska?
No, but I can read a map, and I’ve read the Redoubt Volcanic hazard report.
It has a potential to be very much a threat, it can explode laterally and kill thousands across the Cook Inlet, and it could trigger an earthquake such as the 1964 Good Friday quake, it could create a tsunami, we lost a whole town the last time.
Its a stratovolcano, its big, over 10,000 ft. Its really quite nothing to sneer at.
bump for later
Also here's a map showing the damage from MSH's 1980 eruption.
Looking at this and looking at the map above showing the scale? Sure fishing traffic in the Cook inlent could take a hit but the cities should be safe if ash covered if that volcano blows. The map shows Redoubt a few miles inland from the coast as well.
No, ESPECIALLY no, and no.
The Possible directed blast radius from the hazard report barely reaches Cook Inlet, much less Anchorage.
Well, I can read a medical book and have watched lots of hospital dramas...want me to take your appendix out? (sorry, couldn't help myself!)
I agree with Unk, in that Alaska, being part of the same geological system as Indonesia and Java (site of Kraktoa, Toba, Tambora, etc), volcanoes and earthquakes are nothing to take lightly, no matter where they are located and how far from the population centers they occur.
Unk, was that "old Valdez"? I saw that....awesome (not awesome as in cool, awesome as in jaw-dropping)
As usual and I feel a little sad saying it, is that nobody can ever claim to be an expert on ANYTHING here in Alaska unless you have lived her a full calender year, or several years of southern and northern Alaska.
I live here, I have no PHD or fancy diplomas or drive a Beemer, I’m an Alaskan, I may not be the best person to quote state facts but I do know what we live with.
Its like Alaska is a whole new world, I give up trying to educate the out of staters that say oh no it cannot be that way up there, its America so it must be as we think its like the lower 48.
OK, you can stay there wherever, the basement, the penthouse, or blogging from another country, you are still viewing from the outside, good luck with your theories!
I am not going to argue with the internet experts about whether Redoubt is just a passive volcano venting some ash and steam compared to a possible Krakatoa, preach what you believe I suppose.
And I appreciate your comments Virginia Ridgerunner, I’ll keep posting what I see around me.
Unk, I have been to Alaska twice in the past 2 years. The reason I LOVE Alaska is cos it’s like a whole ‘nother world (which is why my kids live there (by Wasilla).
So, you keep telling us what you know. You’re there, we’re not (but I am still offering that free appendectomy to that other poster!)
Now for the stupid “lower 48” questions. Is there worry about a tsunami? I love the “Tsunami evacuation route” signs by Valdez! I mean, of course I hope that doesn’t happen, I just found it really funny (in my mind, stupidity) that not all tsunamis happen around tropic islands.
I see that Anchorage and the Mat-Su valley schools plan to open today, so that means the ash clouds are not expected to head up the valley?
No Valdex was rebuilt. Portage sank, and was never rebuilt or repopulated. It’s now just a ghost town with rotten old roofs sticking up out of the ground, with the railroad going through it.
So far its not affecting the heavier populated areas, the wind pattern actually has it heading in the least populated direction, now tomorrow it looks like it will change.
Tsunami in Alaska is a very real threat, in 1964 there was an inlet down near the Kenai Peninsula that recorded I think a wave height of over 85 feet. And with our tides the second highest on earth at over 40 feet we can have serious damages even from a small wave effect at high tide.
As far as I can tell all the schools are on schedule, my kids will be leaving soon.
The webicorder is quiet again, its building up pressure again I think.
Thanks for the news.
Here’s the link for the webicorder (which I think means it’s the seismic actvity picture thingy...LOL!) http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webicorders/Redoubt/
for us volcano-newbies.
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