Alaskan Volcano Ready to Blow Again

(NEWSER) - The fifth and largest eruption of Alaska’s Mount Redoubt occurred this morning, sending a plume of ash 60,000 feet above sea level, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The ash is spreading north into inhabited areas, but winds moving toward Anchorage are too high to dump ash there. “That’s going to stay there,” an expert said. While the airport there is still open, Alaska Airlines has canceled 19 flights. More»

(AP) - Alaska's Mount Redoubt has erupted again, spewing an ash cloud 50,000 feet up into the air. The Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage says the volcano had a significant eruption after midnight today, and coughed up ash that is expected to move north toward the Alaska Range, missing Anchorage, which is about 100 miles from the volcano. More»

In wake of explosion

(NEWSER) - Mount Redoubt erupted in Alaska, but Bobby Jindal is feeling the heat in Louisiana, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Democrats are raking the governor over the coals for scoffing at “something called volcano monitoring” as an example of wasteful spending in his televised speech last month. “It’s not a laugh line and it’s not a sound bite in Alaska,” said a spokesman for Sen. Mark Begich. More»

Eruption could come within days, warns geologists

(NEWSER) - Rumbling Alaska volcano Mount Redoubt has erupted three times since late yesterday, reports AP. The first eruption was obscured by darkness and snow, but was detected by the US Geological Survey. Mud slides were possible into the nearly Drift and Crescent rivers after the blast that shot steam 50,000 feet into the air. More»

Lava flows, plumes of ash sent into sky

(NEWSER) - The Philippines' most active volcano oozed lava and shot up plumes of ash today, forcing more than 20,000 people to evacuate their homes and face the possibility of a bleak Christmas in a shelter. State volcanologists raised the alert level on the cone-shaped, 8,070-foot Mayon volcano overnight to two steps below a major eruption after ash explosions. Dark orange lava fragments glowed in the dark as they trickled down the mountain slope overnight. More»